Things seem pretty normal these days; Corporations are open without capacity restrictions and NFL stadiums are filled with barely visible masks – although New Mexico still has mask requirements.
But 2020 is not forgotten by small businesses or the New Mexico Finance Authority.
“I think the most important point is that it will take years for 16 months to recover from financial losses,” said Melodi Wyss, owner of Rock Paper Scissor SalonSpa at the DeVargas Center.
Wyss received a CARES grant last year of $ 25,000 issued by the New Mexico Treasury, and this year he received $ 59,000 through the NMFA’s Business Recovery Grant Program. This is similar to last year’s program, but is funded with $ 200 million in government funding in lieu of federal COVID-19 aid.
Wyss found that her salon was closed for four months last year due to COVID restrictions and had to operate at 25 percent occupancy for the next 11 months.
“My main goal is that I can keep business as normal as possible,” said Wyss. “The scholarship enables me to maintain a facade of normality.”
The NMFA began offering the $ 46 million Business Recovery Grant in May, awarded to 900 small businesses with fewer than 75 employees who are achieving specific job creation or recovery goals. The ninth and final round of the program began on October 12th with $ 150 million remaining and an application deadline of December 7th.
“There are many opportunities for businesses and nonprofits,” said NMFA CEO Marquita Russel. “The way you qualify for a scholarship is net new jobs.”
These can be new jobs or lost jobs can be brought back. Companies can choose between December 31, 2020 or March 31, 2021 as the base date. Any job increases after these dates and expected to be added by June 2023 will count towards how much the grant will be up to $ 100,000, she said.
“Restoring hours (from existing employees whose hours have been cut) counts towards job creation,” Russell said.
The grants are provided through the state program of the Local Economic Development Act, which is based on granting job creation grants to avoid the state prohibition on donating state funds to private companies. The grants are paid quarterly based on the companies meeting the job creation criteria each quarter.
“This can only be used for rent, lease and mortgage payments,” said Russel. “This frees up money for other things.”
City Shoe & Boot Repair received $ 35,200 last year and will receive $ 34,920 from the NMFA this round.
“It’s still huge,” said Vincent Trujillo, owner of City Shoe, of the government support as things now have a semblance of normalcy. “We’re still not where we normally would be. We are in the busiest time of the year. We are at 70 percent of what we normally are. “
Trujillo Ventures City Shoe was on the verge of collapse in the first few months of the pandemic.
“In all honesty, if we hadn’t got something back then, we would have gone out of business,” he said. “We persevered. We were on our knees. With this grant we can keep our employees and hire new employees. “
The NMFA’s Business Recovery Grant program requires the company to be based in New Mexico, have fewer than 75 employees, be laid off or cut due to the pandemic, and have documents showing a decline in sales from 2019 to 2020. Applicants must also be up to date on state and local tax payments.
The required documents include the federal trade tax return 2019 or 2020; Evidence of a drop in sales between 2019 and 2020; Copy of the rental, lease or mortgage contract term sheet showing past, current and future payments due; Proof of rent, lease or mortgage payment; Government-issued photo ID and copies of DWS ES903A forms to show the lowest and highest number of employees in the company.
Applications can be found at nmfinance.com/recovery. Russel wants to get the first payments out by the end of December.
“The average grant is $ 50,000, and we’ve streamlined the application process to make it as user-friendly as possible,” said Russell. “We have a team of funding coordinators available to assist companies with the application process and provide New Mexico companies with the financial support they need.”
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