Rifle City Council has approved a request from the Rifle Regional Economic Development Corporation to establish a fund to assist small businesses that are facing economic hardship during this COVID-19 pandemic.
Businesses with up to 50 employees are eligible to apply for a loan of up to $2,000 per business. The loans will be 100% forgiven as long as documentation is provided showing that the money was utilized for operating expenses of the business.
The program was approved at the Wednesday, April 22 City Council meeting.
Applicants must have a brick and mortar building and a non-homebased business located within the city limits of the City of Rifle. To apply for funding, businesses must meet the following criteria:
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— Applicant has been forced to temporarily close or forced to dramatically limit operations due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
— Applicant must have been open as of March 1, 2020 with a physical address within Rifle city limits.
— Applicant applying for the funding must be a small business with less than 50 full-time employees and have local ownership.
— Applicant must be in good standing with the City of Rifle and Colorado Secretary of State.
— Applicant must provide a line-item budget of the operating expenses the loan will be used for.
— Applicant must not have already received any COVID-19 relief funding.
— Borrowers are strongly encouraged to work with the RREDC and the Northwest SBDC on their business plan and model in order to have a higher likelihood of success.
According to Executive Director of the Rifle Regional EDC Katie Mackley, “We are seeing a significant need for bridge funding for many of our small businesses in Rifle and we see this program as an effective and expeditious way to provide that. We are hopeful that we will see additional Small Business Administration funding come through and we are poised to help our businesses take advantage of those opportunities if they haven’t. In the meantime, this loan program will provide some relief and stability for businesses as they navigate the phased reopening of our local economy.”
The program will go live at 8 a.m. on Wednesday, April 29. At that time, online applications will be located on the City of Rifle website, Rifleco.org.
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