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WINTON – Help has arrived to assist Hertford County businesses that are struggling financially due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Hertford County Board of Commissioners has launched the Hertford Small Business COVID-19 Relief Funding Program. The goal is to help these business owners in the short-term so that they can get back on their feet and remain viable for the long term.

Specifically, the purpose of the program, which draws its funding from the CARES Act, is to assist Hertford County-based small businesses that are experiencing financial difficulties such as mandated shutdowns, employee layoffs, and operating losses as a result of ongoing efforts of the federal, state and local authorities to contain and minimize the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The maximum amount of the grant will be twice the average monthly expenses from a business’s most recently filed tax return or $10,000, whichever is less. The grant program has no application fee, no repayment provision, and no other costs to the grant recipient.

The application period opens at 12 noon on Monday, Oct. 26 and runs through 11:59 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 13. Applicants will be asked to submit supplemental materials with the application to Hertford County Administration, 115 Justice Drive, Suite 1, Winton, NC 27986. These materials (constituting a completed application packet) must be received by the Nov. 13 deadline to be considered for possible funding.

Hertford County local government staff (Administration and the Finance Office) will pre-screen the applications to make sure they include all required documentation and meet the published qualifications. Completed applications will be provided to the county commissioners for their review and funding determination.

The application and program guidelines will be available on Hertford County’s website, Facebook page and at Hertford County’s Administration Office.

Businesses that have already received COVID-19 related financial assistance from either the state, federal or local governments are eligible to apply for the Hertford County Small Business COVID-19 Relief Funding

Program.

Listed among the requirements to be considered for a loan include that the business must be based in Hertford County and open for at least one year; employ 100 workers or less with annual revenues of $2.5 million or less; locally/independently owned; provide a profit and loss statement indicating profitability prior to coronavirus pandemic; has experienced at least a 25% decline in revenues due to COVID-19 between Jan. 1, 2020 and Sept. 30, 2020; and does not have any open tax liens or open judgments and has not filed for bankruptcy.

Each of the eligible uses of funds below will be evaluated in the context of being necessary for businesses to provide services in a different manner due to “social distancing” requirements or mandated closures caused by the COVID-19 pandemic:

Fund working capital or operational funds to retain employees during the COVID-19 pandemic;

Purchase equipment, commercial-use vehicles, or machinery for the business;

Improve owner-occupied commercial property (owner must occupy 50% or more of total space);

Sustain or expand business services or products;

Retain or expand workforce development and job creation; and

Fund tenant up-fit and lease-hold improvements to the business.

Each business receiving a grant must provide an accounting of how all funds were used by the business within 180 days of the receipt of the grant.

For more information, contact the Hertford County Manager’s office at 252-358-7805.