Council allocates portion of CARES Act funds to directly support residents and small businesses
WASHOUGAL — The Washougal City Council has allocated a portion of CARES Act funding to directly support residents and small businesses adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic through two new programs. Funding was authorized by Emergency Order 2020-08 that was adopted by the council on October 12, 2020.
The COVID-19 Utility Assistance Program assists low-income residential utility customers who have delinquent utility account balances. The Small Business Grant Program Fund is an emergency fund that provides small working capital grants to qualifying small businesses to mitigate the direct impacts of business interruption due to operations limits during the COVID-19 response.
“Not only would this money substantially help people either in a low income situation who can’t afford to keep their water on or to stay current on their bills or small business owners who are trying to piece together payroll one week at a time,” commented Council Member Alex Yost, “these programs are major show of faith that we care about our community in both the small business and resident populations.”
Applications for each program have a submission deadline of Nov. 13, 2020.
A total of $30,000 of CARES Act funding for this program that will provide credit to utility accounts for residential utility customers who meet the program income requirements and have an unpaid account balance for over 30 days. Household income limits are set by the Federal Department of Housing & Urban Development. The funds are available on a first come, first served basis.
Applicants must complete and submit a COVID-19 Utility Assistance Program application to the city’s Finance Department by Nov. 13, 2020 at 5 p.m. Applications will be reviewed on a first-come, first-eligible served basis and applicants will be notified of approval or rejection by staff. The amount of assistance provided will be determined by the city.
Remarking on the new relief program, Mayor Coston said, “It hits those members of the community that may be impacted negatively by the loss of a job and hits a demographic and service that the county and state may not have been able to.”
The program may be terminated on Nov. 13, or such date as allocated funding has been used, whichever is earlier. Program may be extended in the event additional funding is allocated or the CARES Act grant funding deadlines are extended.
Full program details and application materials can be found at cityofwashougal.us/UtilityAssistanceProgram.
