A state lawmaker is urging Springfield to do more to help rural small businesses hurt by
COVID-19 restrictions.
The call comes after Gov. J.B. Pritzker and the Illinois Department of
Commerce and Economic Opportunity announced the first round of grants from the
Downstate Small Business Stabilization Program. Officials said $1.3 million will be
handed out to 65 businesses in 28 downstate communities.
State Rep. Tom Demmer, R-Dixon, said that’s not nearly enough, considering the
program contains around $20 million in available funds.
“We saw only 65 businesses in the entire state who qualify for these,” Demmer said.
“You think about the 90 counties or so that this [program] would cover, that's not even
one business per county. This was supposed to be a targeted program specifically for
small and rural communities. And we've seen very, very little support go to those
communities so far.”
Demmer, who also serves as Deputy House Republican Leader, said in his hometown of
Dixon, only four of the 52 applicants were approved. He said the whole process has been
time-consuming, taking up valuable resources of business owners.
“It was an incredibly complicated process and included things like public hearings and
votes by the city council and 80-page applications per business,” Demmer said. “One of
the challenges is that the guidance changed a few times. Some businesses submitted
applications for these grants only to find out that the rules changed mid-stream.”
According to Demmer, many of the denial notices carry dates from late April and May,
meaning officials reviewed those applications long ago and then made businesses wait for
an answer.
“That was very frustrating to me,” Demmer said. “If you put yourself in the shoes of a
small business owner, you’re trying to figure out what you can afford to do. Can you
keep the lights on in your business? Can you keep an employee on, or do you have to lay
additional people off? Every day matters right now.”
Demmer is also critical of certain provisions of the program, such as the exclusion of sole
proprietors and other businesses being turned down for “insufficient length of business
operation”.
“That's focusing more on the arbitrary rules of a grant program, instead of focusing on
what the intent is here, which was to provide financial assistance to small businesses who
suffered significant financial burdens because of the stay at home orders,” Demmer said.
More than $18-million dollars remains to be awarded, with rural small businesses eligible
for grants of up to $25,000 dollars each.
New applications are being accepted for the program, but Demmer argues that officials
should re-examine the paperwork they already have.
“Some of the folks who needed it most desperately have already closed,” Demmer said.
“I think we should really try to focus on people who looked at this early on in the process
as a needed lifeline and not those who waited until the second or third round to decide
that they might want to apply.”