Hi, I’m Churchill County Commissioner Bus Scharmann.
Your Churchill County leadership team wants to help support our local business that are finding their way through these challenging times. We hear you, we are here for you and we understand the impact this COVID-19 social distancing and closure of nonessential businesses is having upon our neighbors.
I want to talk to you about resources put forth by a variety of agencies that are available to our local small business owners to help you navigate these times. These resources are all available on our website at: www.churchillcounty.org/covid-19.
Resources for Small Businesses
Local Resources
Small Business Administration/Small Business Development Center
The Nevada Small Business Development Center (Nevada SBDC) Business Resiliency Toolkit contains a small business resiliency plan developed as well as links to help small business owners plan for disruption, including pandemics.
Additional resource links available to you at www.churchillcounty.org/covid-19:
- The America’s Small Business Development Center
- The Small Business Administration Disaster Relief Program
- Small Business Development Center Resource links for COVID-19
- SBA Disaster Loan Assistance
- SBA Fact Sheet on Economic Injury Disaster Loans
For more information or if you have questions, please contact Sara Beebe with the Churchill Economic Development Center and Fallon Small Business Development Center by phone (775)842-1794 or email sara@cedaattracts.com
State Resources
- The Governor’s office and the Department of Health and Human Services have a comprehensive webpage with many resources for small businesses at nvhealthresponse.nv.gov. Click on the “Information For” tab and scroll down to “Businesses and Workforce”.
- The Nevada Unemployment Office is working hard to handle the huge increase in volume of calls and requests for unemployment insurance. Reach them online at http://ui.nv.gov/.
- Additional staff has been allocated to the Unemployment Claims Call Centers, as well as new features to better triage calls.
- The Unemployment Office has newly-created tutorial videos in English and Spanish to guide claimants through the unemployment process.
- Tools and resources are available online at ui.nv.gov to assist with filing process including tutorial videos on Nevada Unemployment Insurance’s You Tube channel.
Federal Resources
Paycheck Protection Program
- The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act signed by the President last week provides relief for small businesses and their employees who are adversely affected by COVID-19. The cornerstone provision is the “Paycheck Protection Program,” an emergency lending facility, administered by the Small Business Administration, to provide small business loans on favorable terms to borrowers impacted by the current state of economic uncertainty. At $349 billion in new lending capacity, it accounts for the bulk of the small business assistance provided and is one of the most important aspects of the Congressional response to the pandemic thus far.
- Congress intended the Paycheck Protection Program to accomplish two fundamental goals: 1) help small businesses cover their near-term operating expenses during the worst of the crisis, and 2) provide a strong incentive for employers to retain their employees. In short, it is intended as a partial revenue replacement program to allow deeply affected businesses to hibernate through a period of severe disruption without making drastic changes to their footprint.
- The program works by generally targeting businesses, nonprofits, Tribal businesses, and veteran’s organizations with 500 employees or less as eligible for federally insured, partially forgivable loans that can be used to cover short-term operating expenses during the economic crisis. The maximum loan size is equivalent to 250 percent of the employer’s average monthly payroll costs (e.g., roughly 10 weeks of payroll expenses) or $10 million, whichever is less. Payroll costs are defined broadly to include wages, salaries, retirement contributions, healthcare benefits, covered leave, and other expenses.
If you are interested in applying for this assistance for your business please apply at: https://www.sba.gov/funding-programs/loans/coronavirus-relief-options
Our pledge as Commissioners is to open, honest, and transparent in these unprecedented times and to keep you up-to-date on information that may be helpful in navigating this emergency. Our primary ways of doing that are through the county’s website at www.churchillcounty.org/covid-19 and the county’s Facebook and Twitter accounts. We urge you to follow us on those platforms and check back often for updates.
Thank you and Stay Home For Nevada.