Luverne sends aid to businesses with direct checks

Luverne City Council members took action at their July 28 meeting to change their method of disbursing pandemic relief funds to local businesses.
The CARES Act — the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act – is a $2.2 trillion economic stimulus bill passed by Congress and signed into law in March in response to the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.
In addition to using the money to reimburse for direct COVID-19 expenses, expenditures may be made in the form of grants to small businesses to reimburse the costs of business interruption caused by required closures.
Money was allocated to states based on population, and states in turn dispersed funds to counties and local governments.
The city of Luverne agreed to allocate its $355,983 to 79 local small businesses identified by the Luverne EDA during a previous round of local pandemic relief.
These businesses will receive the money in the form of grants that will show up as credit on their utility bills in four installments over the next four months.
On July 28 the council amended that method because CARES Act provisions prohibit grants from being applied directly to a utility bill because it would be considered “revenue replacement,” which is not allowed.
Instead, the city will make CARES payments in the form of checks to businesses.
A review committee comprised of City Administrator John Call, Mayor Pat Baustian and Finance Director Barb Berghorst will consider requests or applications from other businesses not included in the 79 predetermined eligible list.
Businesses have had the opportunity to receive funding from other federal programs during the pandemic and other federal programs do not allow eligible expenses to be used for two programs.
Eligible expenses that can be covered by the CARES Act grant include utilities, mortgage or rent payment, payroll expenses, inventory and business license fees.