The clock is ticking in Erie County.

What You Need To Know

  • The county Legislature minority conference is proposing $22 million for small business grants
  • Money would come from federal funding county received through the CARES Act
  • If CARES Act money isn't used by the end of the year it is forfeited 

Whatever it doesn't use of the $160 million in Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Securities Act funding it received is forfeited at the end of the year. Currently, there's about $100 million left.

"If we can use that money to offset revenue losses, that would be fantastic but we still also, I believe, have a duty as elected officials to help out our community and help out small businesses who are suffering," Minority Leader Joe Lorigo, C, said.

Lorigo said the county has been hopeful the federal government would allow it to use CARES funding to close its deficit but time is running out. He said that deficit is not as bad as leaders once feared but there's potentially a more long term issue.

"If these small businesses close then the sales tax revenue that we are so heavily reliant on in Erie County is going to dry up," Lorigo said.

The Minority Conference is proposing $22 million of the remaining federal dollars be awarded as grants to small businesses, spread evenly among the 11 county legislative districts.

"There's going to be an application and review process," Lorigo said. "We're going to make sure that the businesses that apply actually did lose revenue as a result of the pandemic and the Legislature will have final say as afar as approving the awards."

The proposal comes the same day the New York State Restaurant Association announced nearly two-thirds of restaurants in a recent survey said they were likely or somewhat likely to close by the end of the year without some form of financial relief. Half of those that are likely to close expect to make the decision before November.

"That's one message we can stress right now is that not only do we need the funding desperately, it needs to be soon. We can't really wait until the end of the year based on these numbers," NYSRA President Melissa Fleischut said.

She said grant programs are helpful but limited. The association is hoping for federal dollars as well as the state taking steps like providing commercial rent relief and increasing indoor dining capacity before the winter months.

"Anywhere the state can help with the red tape and just the streamlining process right now for the industry would be helpful," Fleischut said.

Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said he hasn't seen the minority's proposal yet but pointed out for instance, businesses can already apply for up to $10,000 in grant money for personal protective equipment through the county's industrial development agency. He said participation in that program has been sparse.

"We'll consider everything but we already have a number of programs that exist to provide assistance to our local business community," Poloncarz said.

Thursday, he announced the county would designate $25 million of the emergency funding to support child care efforts.