New Hampshire is injecting another $100 million into the Main Street Relief Fund — giving businesses facing losses another shot at the aid. The state is also adding $50 million into the shrinking unemployment trust fund, Gov. Chris Sununu announced.
The money comes from the $1.25 billion share of the CARES act, money that — with some exceptions — has to be out the door by the end of the year. The state has already allocated about $1 billion of that, though some of that allocated money has not been spent and probably won’t be.
The $50 million put into the unemployment trust fund will hold off unemployment taxes businesses must pay when the trust fund drops below certain levels.
Main Street Relief Fund 2.0 — “not the most creative name in the world,” quipped the governor — was based on positive reactions from over 5,000 businesses that received more than $340 million in aid in the first round and told Sununu that it was a “lifeline,” he said. Along with money for the $37 million for the Self Employed Livelihood Fund (SELF) and the $30 million General Assistance & Preservation (GAP), the state will be spending half a billion dollars on business relief, a larger chunk than just about any other state, he boasted.
The second Main Street round will be similar to the first, except there will be less than a third of the total funds to go around, so the grants will be smaller. The checks would be a percentage of the difference between last year’s actual revenue and this year’s projected revenue, minus any other Covid funds received (including Main Street 1.0). If that expected revenue drop is not as severe as anticipated (as measured by tax returns), businesses might have to pay some of it back, though the state hasn’t worked out those details.
What exact percentage of individual losses are paid out depends on the total amount of losses claimed by all businesses divided into that $100 million pot, rather than the $340 million previous pot. Last time, businesses got about 17% of their anticipated revenue drop. This time it will probably be somewhere between 5% and 10%.
Both businesses that did and didn’t apply for round one are eligible, but some businesses that were excluded last time are still not eligible since they could get state funding elsewhere: the selfemployed (who could have applied for SELF), nonprofits, farms, child care providers, schools and universities, and healthcare providers.
The Main Street 2.0 application ends at 4 p.m. Friday, Oct. 30.
For more information, visit goferr.nh.gov. — BOB SANDERS
