Winooski City Council Approves $100,000 in Local Business Grants

Downtown Winooski, photo by Don Shall

Winooski’s city council voted unanimously to send $100,000 of the city’s $2.19 million American Rescue Plan Fund to struggling businesses during their meeting Monday.  

The program will give ten individual grants worth up to $10,000 to businesses that have applied for aid through the state economic bridge program, reside within Winooski, and have suffered losses throughout the pandemic. 

The vote came amid alarm from local professionals and city officials. 

“We’re hearing fear for the first time,” said Meredith Bay-Tyack, executive director of Downtown Winooski, an organization that supports local businesses, according to its website.

Revenue from 2021 sales and use taxes in Winooski has dropped 36.7% below the pre-pandemic average, according to city sales and use taxable receipts data.

These effects were likely further exacerbated by the omicron variant in ways yet seen, said Heather Carrington, the Winooski Community and Economic Development Officer in a memo. 

“The prolonged nature of the economic losses to small business, combined with the staffing shortage in front line jobs like retail and hospitality service is likely to result in permanent closures,” the memo states. “There is a distinct possibility that without intervention we may begin to see the business closures that have been occurring on a national scale.” 

Some are skeptical that $100,000 in grants are enough to make the difference.  

Across the country, businesses have used large federal loan programs like the paycheck protection program to stay afloat, but 400,000 small businesses still closed their doors permanently by March 2021, according to the US Treasury Department.

When surveyed, 71% of small business owners nationwide said the omicron variant has hurt revenue. 82% agreed that the federal government should provide  additional support with new variants, according to a survey published by Goldman Sachs on January 24th. 

“Why up to $10,000 per grant,” asked City Councilor Bryn Oakleaf on Monday night.

With so many businesses struggling in Winooski, and a program that can only dispense ten individual grants, Oakleaf points out that allowing business owners to apply for so much diminishes the share of the pie for everyone else. 

“By making the grants too small, we won’t be providing any of the assistance that we actually want to provide,” Carrington said to Oakleaf. 

She feels that offering up to $10,000 is a minimum to address current emergent needs. 

The concerns displayed at the meeting line up with the larger concerns of business owners and lawmakers nationwide: continued assistance is likely necessary so long as this pandemic negatively impacts revenue.

Mayor Kristine Lott told Downtown Winooski and council staff that she is prepared to discuss dispersing follow-up funds with additional assistance if “need far exceeds the available funds,” according to Carrington’s memo. 

The Council said it plans to give an outline of the remaining stimulus fund distribution in the near future following community feedback. The first of these listening sessions is scheduled for Feb. 4.