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Small businesses in Dallas County suffering from the aftershock of the coronavirus pandemic will have access to more federal relief after county commissioners on Friday approved an additional $30 million in assistance.
The county is also increasing the amount that businesses are eligible to receive from $15,000 to $50,000. And moving forward, businesses that received a federal payroll protection loan may also qualify for the local program so long as the combined aid does not exceed $50,000.
The first round of funding, which was approved in May, will begin being dispersed this month, county officials said. While more than a thousand businesses applied, only 558 qualified for up to $8.8 million in help. Those that were deemed ineligible during the first round will be reevaluated under the new criteria.
The county program is open to small businesses that had $10 million or less in revenue and employ 100 or fewer workers. The program excludes small businesses inside the city of Dallas, which has its own loan assistance.
County loan recipients are expected to remain in businesses for at least four months and retain up to 60% of the employees they had as of March 1.
According to the county, 90% of applications were from businesses with fewer than 11 employees; 80% of the applications were from businesses with less than $500,000 in annual revenue; and 45% were owned by women.
Nearly a third of the business applicants — 29% — were Asian-Americans; 24% were Black; 14% were Latino.
“I’m delighted to know that we could reach those small businesses,” said Commissioner Elba Garcia, who represents western Dallas County.
Nationally, large corporations have come under fire for sweeping up major loans meant for small businesses. Earlier this week, the U.S. Small Business Administration released data on 661,000 loans. The information only covers businesses that got more than $150,000.
North Texas companies netted at least $6.2 billion in federal loans since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the data analyzed by The Dallas Morning News.
The county is expected to release the list of businesses that receive help later this month.
Dallas County’s loan program is part of the $250 million it received from Congress’ coronavirus relief package.
The county has used the money to provide rental assistance to residents, pay for protective equipment for voting booths and set up a contact tracing team. It also distributed more than $72 million to cities throughout the county.