Jose Mier here with some important news. In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic and the 2.2 trillion dollar stimulus package passed by the U.S. Congress, many of our Sun Valley, CA small businesses may be eligible to receive loans in order to keep employees on the payroll during this time of shutdowns and closures.
The package that was passed was given the acronym CARES Act, which stands for Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security. Part of the act included an allocation for $350 billion to aid small businesses during this time of crisis. I’m urging our Sun Valley small businesses (link to page) (of which I’m a part) to take a closer look and see if they’re eligible to receive a loan.
One of the most interesting aspects of the CARES Act and loans to small business is that the loans may in fact be forgiven providing a business keeps their payroll open during this crisis. (It also says the loans may be forgiven if payrolls are reopened after the crisis).
Because President Trump recently gave April 30 as an earliest date of opening up the country, that means we as small businesses may have an additional month to get through until we can try to get back to normal. Those of us with employees that may have been sidelined due to us closing our doors during this period might want to see about getting one of these loans. By keeping are payrolls going we’d be helping our employees who cannot work, allowing them to continue to pay for basic living expenses—just like the rest of us.
There are requirements to the loans such as having fewer than 500 employees, meeting the SBA’s size standard among other things. In addition, there are some specific rules governing the loans to businesses in the food service sector. They’re all listed on the US Chamber’s website.
It’s definitely worth taking a look at how these loans will work and it’s one more way we can keep Sun Valley economically viable until this crisis goes away for good.