City expands eligibility for next round of CARES Act funding for businesses

Robert Perea, The Fernley Reporter

With half of the money originally earmarked for the program remaining, the Fernley City Council voted at it’s Oct. 7 meeting to expand eligibility for businesses to receive CARES Act funding.

The Council originally set aside $250,000 to help businesses that were forced to close by state restrictions in reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic. So far, the city has awarded $5,000 each to 25 businesses, a total of $125,000, leaving $125,000 remaining. Originally, businesses that had received federal funding were not eligible. However, with money left over, the council decided to expand the eligibility to those businesses that received funding from the federal Paycheck Protection Program, and to allow businesses that have already received city funding to reapply for a second grant.

The only catch, city manager Daphne Hooper said, is that businesses can’t use the funding for the same expenses as the federal funding, or for the same expenses they used previous city funding for,

“PPP for was for personnel, these are for business operational costs,” she said.

Businesses can apply for the grants by email at FernleyCARESAct@cityoffernley.org.