Gloucester Twp. Increases Award For Struggling Small Businesses

GLOUCESTER TOWNSHIP, NJ — Small businesses in Gloucester Township that are struggling amid the coronavirus pandemic are now eligible for up to $10,000 in relief following a vote by Township Council Monday night.

Township Council unanimously approved a resolution to increase the amount provided to awardees of the Small Business Assistance Grant Program from $5,000 to up to $10,000 when it met Monday night at the municipal building.

The township initially set the award at $5,000 when the program was established earlier this year. Gloucester Township allocated $425,000 of the $493,426 in Community Block Development Grants it received through the federal CARES Act for the program. Read more here: Gloucester Twp. Offers Up To $5K For Small Businesses Amid COVID

“We need to put more money out in the street,” Gloucester Township Council President Orlando Mercado said. “We have not exhausted the funds we were awarded, so there’s an opportunity to provide some additional dollars to some of our businesses here.”

There is about $207,000 remaining that has not yet been awarded, according to a representative of Triad Associates, which is running the program.

Those who were previously awarded a $5,000 grant can apply for more money, but they won’t necessarily get the full $10,000, Township Administrator Tom Cardis said.

They won’t have to go through the process all over again, the Triad representative said. It works on a sliding scale:

• Businesses that have up to $10,000 in expenses would get $5,000;
• Businesses whose expenses are between $10,000 and $20,000 would get $7,500; and
• Businesses whose expenses exceed $20,000 would get the full $10,000 reward.

In offering the program, the federal government said the money could be used for rental and mortgage assistance. Camden County runs a rental assistance program.

Resident Pete Heinbaugh asked if the township considered other uses for the money before increasing the amount that could be awarded to businesses.

The Triad representative said there’s been relatively little participation among businesses. The question then became whether should more money have been awarded to businesses in the first place, so they decided to retroactively award more money.

The township would have the option of ending the business program and redirecting the funding elsewhere, the representative said.

Gloucester Township Councilman Dan Hutchison said he wants the township to fully explore the business options first, but he doesn’t want to wait too long to pivot to the rental assistance aspect. Other funding is also likely to be on its way, the representative said.

Gloucester Township stores, restaurants, entertainment, and nonprofessional service businesses with no more than the equivalent of 10 full-time employees that were in business as of Dec. 31, 2019, are eligible to participate. For more information and a pre-application form, visit glotwp.com.