CARES Money; $2M in support to local businesses

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CIBOLA COUNTY, N.M. – The COVID-19 pandemic has forced businesses across the state to shutter, costing money and job losses. Despite the losses many businesses have stayed open trying to keep the economy going, while taking a series of losses, themselves. Relief has finally come to these small businesses in the form of more than $2 million that will be used to support them.

Money from the CARES Act, passed by the United States Congress, has made its way to New Mexico. The area’s three government entities – City of Grants, Village of Milan, and Cibola County – teamed up to secure this money to support local businesses.

The three entities worked together to hire Grant Manager Candi Williams (Williams can be reached at caresactfunding@co.cibola.nm.us) who will support local businesses as they go through the process of applying for these funds.

(Where to find the application and contact information are available at the end of the story.)

What is the CARES Act money?

Cibola County Manager Kate Fletcher, City of Grants Manager Laura Jaramillo, and Village of Milan Manager Sarah Austin sat down with the Cibola Citizen to explain the purpose of this money.

“Endgame, we wanted to help as many small businesses as possible,” Manager Fletcher said, explaining that this money is being made available to small businesses immediately for use.

The money can be used to offset COVID-19 related costs: Payroll changes, six-feet markers on the ground, plexiglass installations and personal protective equipment purchase just to name a few examples.

No government agency in Cibola County has access to these funds, nor can they apply for any of this money. The money is being held in Santa Fe, N.M. and will be distributed by the New Mexico Department of Finance and Administration rather than by the local governments who are instead acting as a facilitator to get this support to local businesses.

How to apply

An application for the relief fund is available to all local businesses at the Cibola County website, City of Grants website or Milan website (all website addresses are available at the bottom of the story).

The three managers explained that even if a business does not necessarily fit all the application requirements, that business owners should apply for assistance anyway.

There are six statements which must be true for a business to apply, but the managers reiterate that if a few boxes are not necessarily true, the local business should call and ask for support.

First, a business must affirm that it has suffered an interruption in the service it provides as a result of COVID-19.

Second, a business must have some economic loss.

Third, a business must employ between one and 50 full-time equivalent employees, including the owner, as of February 29.

Fourth, a business must be within the geographic boundaries of Cibola County, this includes the City of Grants and Village of Milan.

Fifth, a business must have a valid commercial license from the county, city, or village.

Finally, the business must have been in operation since at least March 2019.

Businesses and organizations are encouraged to apply as soon as they can. If there are any questions about the application, the managers encouraged owners to contact Grant Manager Williams at 505-285-1035.

The third page of the application asks for the business Taxpayer ID Number. It asks for the business owner’s name, an employee count, and a few simple questions about gross receipts tax for April and May of 2019 and 2020. The page asks about the total amount of funds requested. There is a cap; no business can receive more than $20,000 at this time.

Finally, the fourth page asks businesses to certify that all the information is correct.

The application was streamlined by Manger Jaramillo, the managers explained, and has been made quite simple. For reference, the original application that was given to the managers was 13 pages long, they worked together to simplify the application and make it easy to help support the local businesses.

Awards are anticipated to be given to local business within three to four weeks of the application submittal date.

The managers reiterated that as many businesses as possible need to apply for these funds. The funds will be doled out on a first-come first-serve basis; all applications are due back no later than Dec. 1 at 2 p.m. The managers said that whatever money is not awarded to local businesses will disappear and no local agency will get it.

How did Cibola get this money?

The county, city and village jumped on the opportunity to form a joint coalition and applied together to make this money accessible to the community, the managers explained.

All together the teamwork secured $2,023,500; the coalition applied for $3.8 million, but after being scored on their application for the funds, were awarded slightly more than $2 million. Only four other applicants scored higher than Cibola County’s application which earned a 47, the average score for an application was between 30 and 37. This was an application that governments across the state filled out. The managers credit their success with the application to working together.

“We work really well together,” Manager Austin explained.

The managers had one week from the date the applications were put out to submit the application back to the state, an opportunity they jumped on at once, recognizing that they could receive more money for the local businesses together than they could alone.

Manager Jaramillo explained that this was a particularly pressing matter for the managers because, due to the New Mexico Anti-Donation clause, local governments are prohibited from giving anything – anything at all – to any business or person. The government agencies can help facilitate the transfer of these relief funds because that is there purpose as designated by the federal government.

The teamwork that came out of this effort, the managers explained, is a stepping stone to creating a future of cooperation in Cibola County.

Application and contact information

The application for the CARES Act funding can be found at: http://www.cibolacountynm.com/businesses/cares_a ct_relief_funding.php or https://www.cityofgrants.net/cares

The Grant Manager is Candi Williams. She is available to help anybody with questions about the relief fund. The managers explained that if there is a question that Williams cannot help with, she will find out and then reach out to the questioner with the answer.

Grant Manager Williams can be reached at 505-285-1035 and at caresactfunding@co.cibola.nm.us

The managers wanted to ensure that anyone who has questions or needs help with the application has access to Williams. The grant manager is working out of the Village of Milan government office located at 623 Uranium Avenue, in Milan, N.M.