Dallas County Commissioners Approve Additional SBA Funds

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Dallas County Commissioners Approve Additional SBA Funds
Dallas County Commissioners Court

Dallas County Commissioners Court voted unanimously to approve an additional $30 Million for the county’s Small Business Assistance Program today. The additional funds will be available through the Dallas County Emergency Business Assistance Program (EBAP).

The Court was also briefed on changes to the EBAP that will expand the number of businesses eligible to receive loans. Commissioners also voted to increase maximum loan amounts from the previous amount of $15,000. The program’s loans are forgivable as long as all the requirements are properly met. Visit ndconline.org/ntxsmallbiz/dallas-county or call 214-845-7673 for eligibility requirements and more information.

Dallas County Commissioner Elba Garcia

Elba Garcia, Dallas County Commissioner for District IV, said, “By adding this additional $30 million to our Emergency Business Assistance Program, we will be able to continue helping the small business owners in our community who have been so badly impacted by the pandemic. And by increasing the amount of money businesses can receive and restructuring the requirements, we will be able to reach many more small businesses that were not eligible in the first round.”

The Dallas County Emergency Business Assistance Program (EBAP) provides financial assistance to “traditional” small businesses (those with no more than 100 employees) that have been adversely affected by the pandemic. Its purpose: “to stop the bleeding” for these firms, not necessarily to restore them to their pre-pandemic status. Eligible businesses must be located in Dallas County but not the City of Dallas (who have their own program). The business must have experienced a loss of at least 25% in income since March 1, due to the pandemic. They must be current in paying county and local taxes.

The program was designed to rapidly provide financial assistance to “traditional” small businesses (i.e., those with no more than 100 employees and revenue under $1.5 million) that have been adversely affected by the current pandemic. Its stated purpose is to “stop the bleeding” for these firms; but not necessarily restore them to their pre-pandemic status.

New Regulations Approved Friday

Dallas County Commissioners approved these new regulations today:

  • Businesses with up to $10 million can apply for up to a $50,000 forgivable loan.
  • Businesses that have received federal assistance are granted an award with the federal assistance amount deducted from their award amount.
  • The paycheck protection requirement is reduced from 90% to 60% aligning the requirement with the Paycheck Protection Program.
  • Those businesses who already applied for the first round of funding but did not receive funding will be moved to the second round of funding without having to reapply.

Approved small business loans have a one-year term with an annual interest rate of 1%. No interest accrues and no payments are required until the fifth month. Loan forgiveness is available if the borrower continues to operate the business for four months and carries at least 90% of its full-time employees and payroll.

For other requirements, please visit //ndconline.org/ntxsmallbiz/dallas-county/.