After Congress passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, much of the initial attention centered around the stimulus payments that will be sent to people around the country.
But equally significant in the $2 trillion aid package signed by President Donald J. Trump is the help that is earmarked for small businesses.
Assistance for individuals and families includes a one-time payment of $1,200 to most people who earn less than $75,000. For most married couples, each will each receive a check, and families will get an additional $500 per child.
Electronic payments were expected to start late this week, with paper checks due to be mailed out starting April 24. However, depending on your income and how you file your taxes, among other factors, it could take a while to get your check, government officials say.
“It’s uncertain at this time how those individual payments will affect Jefferson County’s economy,” said Todd Tracy, executive director of the Jefferson County Economic Development Corporation. “I don’t think anyone wants to hazard a guess on that.”
Help for small businesses
But, for small business owners in Jefferson County, the stimulus bill lends a big helping hand, Tracy said.
“The impact of the CARES Act is an unprecedented gift and lifeline to small business owners in Jefferson County,” he said. “There’s never been anything like this in the history of small business lending.”
The Payroll Protection Program, administered through the federal Small Business Administration (SBA), is generally for businesses with fewer than 500 employees. It offers loans of up to $10 million per business.
Portions of the loan used to maintain payroll and employee benefits, pay rent or mortgage and utility bills, and pay down existing debt, could be forgiven, provided workers continue to be employed through the end of June, the SBA website said.
Because of that clause, Tracy stressed that business owners may want to consider all their options before accepting the loan.
“If you’re on the verge of closing your business permanently, you might want to consider whether you want to take out a loan if you don’t think you’re going to pull through,” he said. “You have to weigh the benefits and risks.”
Business owners may apply for the loans through an SBA-approved bank, credit union or other lending institution.
“You’ll want to apply for that soon,” Tracy said. “I’ve talked with a lot of bank managers over the last few days, and they said there is a lot of interest in this program. This is not upfront cash. There will be a waiting time for it.”
The program runs through June 30.
“You’ll want to talk with your banker about this as soon as you can,” Tracy said. “But an important part of the discussion is you’ll want to give your banker a little time to process it.”
Another SBA program that Tracy said small business owners can benefit from is the expansion of the existing Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program.
“This is the same program that provides relief to businesses caught up in natural disasters, such as floods and hurricanes,” Tracy said. “The scale of this pandemic is obviously something we’ve never seen before.”
The program will provide loans of up to $2 million, again generally for businesses with 500 or fewer employees.
The most popular feature of this program is a “loan advance” of up to $10,000 per business.
“It’s more of a grant than a loan,” Tracy said. “This is for businesses who can demonstrate immediate losses due to COVID-19.
“The (online) application is not hard to figure out for the grant, and it usually takes three to five days after approval to have a direct deposit into your bank account. It also is designed to help employers keep making their payrolls.”
Because the EIDL program is not set to expire before the end of the year, Tracy advised business owners not to flood the system with requests.
“This (the grant) is designed to help out in an emergency situation,” he said. “If your business is not facing those kinds of immediate concerns, please don’t make an immediate application. Let those who need the money first get it.”
Tracy said merchants with no credit or poor credit should not be discouraged from applying.
“Go ahead and go through with the process,” he said. “It’s my understanding that the SBA is going to be incredibly more lenient in these times. No one wants to see businesses fail as a result of this pandemic.”
People may apply for the program funds through the SBA at its website (sba.gov.)
Such assistance may be vital. A survey of owners of small businesses conducted by the National Federation of Independent Businesses concluded that about half of them don’t believe they can survive for two months under current conditions without assistance; about one-third say they can only weather the storm for three to six months.
Tracy said any business owner with questions about either program is welcome to call his office at 636-797-5386. Links to information about both programs, as well as other resources, is available on the EDC’s Facebook page at EDCJeffersonCountyMO.
Help for the unemployed
For those who work for businesses that close during the pandemic – either temporarily or permanently – the stimulus bill also provides help beyond the one-time payment.
The CARES Act increases the benefits paid to unemployed workers and broadens who is eligible for assistance.
While states will continue to pay unemployment benefits, the act adds $600 per week to the amount a person receives from the state for up to four months.
“In Missouri, that maximum is $320 per week,” said Michael Ravenscraft of the Workforce Development office in Arnold. “So with the federal payment, it would be $920 per week.”
The act also adds 13 weeks of unemployment insurance to the Missouri maximum of 20 weeks. Displaced workers nearing the end of the period set by the state would be given the 13-week extension; new filers would be covered for 33 weeks.
Ravenscraft said his office is closed to the public during the pandemic, but workers are still responding to calls for help. The local office’s telephone number is 636-865-6060.
“There has been a significant increase in individuals displaced from work or who have been asked to stay home,” he said. “Some of those businesses have been deemed non-essential and others are closed temporarily. Some permanently.”
Ravenscraft encouraged anyone out of work to apply for benefits.
“While you can apply online (at uinteract.labor.mo.gov or through jobs.mo.gov), you can call our office and we can help with the process if you need it,” he said. “This is a system that everyone pays into. It was designed to help people in times like this. If you need the assistance, let us know.”
Ravenscraft said most of the efforts of his staff have been focused on filing unemployment claims.
“As soon as the public health crisis subsides, we’ll open our doors again,” he said. “At that time, we’ll be able to help people develop resumes and find jobs. For those who have been permanently displaced, we can help them with retraining at Jefferson College and help them get permanent placement with a job in the community.”
The act also allows unemployment benefits for independent contractors and other self-employed people who are not usually eligible.
Comtrea gets money for telehealth
A bill passed by Congress on March 6, the Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act, designated $2,117,834 to 29 health centers in Missouri.
Of that, $66,495 was awarded to Comtrea, which provides mental health and other health services in Jefferson County.
Sue Curfman, president and chief executive officer of the agency, said the money mainly will be used to help defray the costs of ramping up the agency’s telehealth initiative.
“Like every other health center, we haven’t had a whole lot of people coming in since mid-March,” she said.
Relaxed federal and state guidelines in the wake of the pandemic have allowed Comtrea to shift its emphasis to helping patients by electronic means, Curfman said.
“Some of our employees are continuing to work in our offices, and others are working from their home offices,” she said. “Because most of our clients have smartphones and other devices, we’re able to communicate with them. Our physicians, nurse practitioners and psychiatrists are able to speak with patients and in many cases, make diagnoses using video conferencing. For those who don’t have a smartphone, we’re speaking with them over the phone.”
Curfman said a telehealth option has been available for psychiatric services for a while, but with health officials encouraging the use of the remote communication with other patients, Comtrea has been scrambling for computers.
“We’ve had laptops on order since the first of the year, but it’s tough to put our hands on equipment that’s often built in other countries having the same problems we are,” she said.
“We’ve been repurposing old laptops just to get enough people working on the telehealth system.”
Curfman said much of the funding for Comtrea’s services comes from fees charged to patients, and about one-fourth of them have no private health insurance, so getting telehealth up and going is essential to day-to-day operations.
“We welcome this money,” she said of the federal funding. “As a community health center, we do not have deep pockets, so this additional funding will be key to our efforts.”
Curfman said some of the money also will be used to buy medical supplies and coronavirus test kits.
“We only have 20 tests right now,” she said. “They’re tough to get, but everybody is facing that,” she said.
Curfman said the agency’s kits will be used for patients who, through the telehealth system, have been identified with symptoms of the virus.
“We would test them for strep throat first, and if that’s negative, consider the coronavirus test,” she said. “It would be done on a drive-thru basis.”
Comtrea does not offer walk-up testing for the coronavirus, she stressed.
“If you feel there’s a possibility you have the virus, make an appointment through telehealth,” she said. “Based on the discussion, we would likely refer the patient to Mercy’s testing center in Hillsboro.”
Other stimulus aid yet to be determined
The effects of other items included in the CARES Act may be felt in Jefferson County in the coming weeks.
For instance, $100 billion has been designated to go to hospitals to help battle the coronavirus.
Mercy Hospital Jefferson spokesman John Winkelman said he has not been told if the Crystal City facility will receive some of that money, or how much.
“It might be known on a Mercy-wide level, but we’ve been busy at our hospitals with other things, as I think everyone will appreciate. I do believe that, concerning the stimulus, there is almost certainly an advantage for Jefferson County residents having their hospital be part of the Mercy system rather than being an independent hospital.”
The CARES Act also includes $13 billion in help for the nation’s elementary and high school system (and another $14 billion for higher education), and $8.8 billion to give schools more flexibility to feed students.
“It’s still early in the process,” Festus R-6 Superintendent Link Luttrell said. “At this point, we know we’re going to get some money, but we don’t know how or when it might be distributed. We’re hoping for some more definite answers within the next 60 days or so. For now, the biggest thing will be clarification on what we could use it for. We hope that the definitions will be broad enough to help pay for what we feel is necessary.”
Desi Kirchhofer, superintendent of Northwest R-1 and president of the Jefferson County Superintendents Association, agreed.
“At this point, there are a lot of questions,” he said. “We have no word right now on the fund distribution. I think the money will be able to help us through this tough time, but at this point, we don’t know what the long-term implications are.”
