After fewer applications than expected, borough prepares for second round of CARES Act grants

The first round of grant applications for CARES Act funding administered by the Mat-Su Borough has ended, but the second round will be coming next week.

Mat-Su Borough Assembly Member Stephanie Nowers says fewer businesses applied for the grants than expected, and that part of the reason may be application overload.

“There’s a lot of fatigue among businesses.  They tried to do the federal or state program and just found it so onerous…Even if they saw the borough program, they were like, ‘Oh, it’s going to be another horrendous application, and I’m not going to bother with it.’”

Nowers says around 400 businesses applied for the program, which is open to any employer with fewer than fifty full-time-equivalent positions.  She says the initial process went smoothly, and the first round of approvals should be ready this week. Meanwhile, the second round of applications is scheduled to begin next Tuesday.

“I think for the second round it will be very interesting, once the word gets out that businesses did get $10,000 and people see the list of businesses, that we may get a higher amount of people who apply in the second round.”

It’s not currently clear exactly how much funding will be available for the second and third rounds of grants to businesses.

The borough is also planning for a grant process for individuals to receive up to $100 each to offset costs incurred due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Mat-Su Borough has set up a website for information on the CARES Act grant programs.