Greene County ARPA Assistance - Apply by 5/31/22

Greene County has received a total of $56.9 million from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and has allocated $8 million of these funds for small business ARPA applications. Greene County will grant these funds over four funding rounds expected to take place during 2022 & 2023, with around $2 million being awarded in each round. The first application deadline ends on May 31, 2022, so if you believe you qualify for the ARPA Small Business Fund grant, please fill out your application as soon as possible (see application process below).

ARPA FEATURES

The ARPA grants are awarded to recipients based on (1) number of current employees in your business and (2) whether your business operates out of a rented or owned retail, office, warehouse, or operating space. You will have to be able to demonstrate that your business has been negatively impacted due to Covid in order to qualify for any Greene County ARPA assistance (see application process below).

The program automatically has a potential “base” grant of $5,000. There are additional allotments provided for:

1. Owned/rented space for retail, office, warehouse, or operations - $5,000
2. Number of full-time employees - $500/employee
3. Number of part-time employees - $250/employee

Greene County has an added caveat to #1 that any potential business should have been occupying a non-residential space prior to 3/1/2020 to receive a benefit. However, if your business does not have a non-residential space it operates out of and/or does not have any employees, this does not disqualify your business from receiving ARPA assistance. As noted above, your business just has to demonstrate it was negatively impacted due to Covid to qualify for a base $5,000 grant.

ARPA funds are treated as a grant, so none of the funds have to be paid back to the county. It’s also different from the Paycheck Protection Program in that the funds are not loans, so there is no forgiveness aspect; if/when the funds are disbursed to your business, they are yours to spend toward your business costs as you see fit. Under current tax law guidance, state and local grants such as those received from ARPA will not be excluded from gross income, so any funds your business may receive would be taxable to you on your Schedule C or business tax return, as applicable. 

If your business is chosen to receive an ARPA grant, Greene County does not currently have a timeframe in which your business must spend the funds (i.e. You can use the money to pay for revenue loss mitigation costs or facilities improvements as quickly or slowly as you need). In addition, Greene County will not require your business to submit any sort of accounting on how the funds were spent unless you fill out the “Proposed Projects” section of the application (which would only apply if you wish to estimate how much your future costs will be due to negative Covid impacts). In short, as long as the funds are used to pay for necessary operating costs of the business, there won't be any issues.

ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS

Below are the eligibility requirements to receive an ARPA grant:

• The business must be located in Greene County;
• The business must be a for-profit or family-owned farm that employs 50 or fewer full-time employees (including the owner(s));
• The business cannot employ undocumented immigrant workers;
• The business must have been in existence in Greene County since 3/1/2020;
• The business must demonstrate existence of negative impacts incurred as a result of Covid since 3/1/2020;
• The business is not suspended or disbarred from use of federal funds.

You are allowed to use any awarded ARPA funds for either (1) revenue loss mitigation or (2) facilities improvements.

1. Revenue loss mitigation includes actions taken to combat declined revenue or periods of business closure. Mitigating activities include supporting:
• Payroll & benefits costs;
• Costs to retain employees;
• Mortgage, rent, or utilities costs;
• Other "operating costs."

2. Facilities improvements include Covid prevention or mitigation tactics. These activities include:
• Physical layout changes to enable social distancing;
• Enhanced cleaning efforts;
• Barrier or partition installations;
• Covid vaccinations, testing, or contact tracing programs.

Please note that you are not allowed to use the ARPA funds for paying non-business debt (such as personal credit cards), personal expenses, direct financing of political activities, paying off taxes & fines, purchase of personal items, purchase of drugs, tobacco, or alcohol, purchases of food & entertainment, payment of bonuses, or travel not associated with direct business operations.

APPLICATION PROCESS

When you navigate to Greene County’s ARPA page, you will need to click the “Register” tab on the top right of the webpage and enter your information to create a login and begin your application. See application instructions included on Greene County's ARPA webpage for help with completing the application. You will need to hit “Save & Continue” after each step to properly calculate a maximum possible grant at the end of your application.

In order to demonstrate that your business was negatively impacted due to Covid, you will be asked to provide a reasonable estimate of increased expenditures due to Covid (such as increased cleaning costs) and a reasonable estimate of lost gross profit due to Covid (revenue less cost of goods sold). 

Under the “General/Contact Information” of the application, Schedule C applicants that do not have an EIN assigned are allowed to input their SSN instead.

Please note that you are required to attach supporting documentation at the end of your application, including:

1. Copy of recently filed Employer Withholding Form 941 or quarterly state unemployment form (SUTA) showing the number of employees in your business;
2. Copy of most recently filed Schedule C (if applicable);
3. A filled out W-9 form.

Let our office know if you need us to provide you with any Form(s) 941 or Schedule C(s), as applicable.

Greene County is currently unable to provide any timeframe for ARPA fund disbursements, but the advisory council is working diligently to provide relief as quickly as possible. It’s also worth mentioning that Greene County has the ultimate authority on which applicants will receive ARPA assistance; maximum possible grants calculated during the application process may be reduced and/or rejected by the advisory council.

As stated earlier, the first round of Greene County ARPA applications ends on May 31, 2022, so act quickly if you believe you qualify for assistance. And as always, reach out to our office at 417-882-9000 if you have any questions.