Breaking News: Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity Offering Support
Hospitality Emergency Grant Program
To help hospitality businesses make ends meet in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) is launching the Hospitality Emergency Grant Program with $14 million drawn from funds originally budgeted for job training, tourism promotion, and other purposes. Grant funds are available to support working capital like payroll and rent, as well as job training, retraining, and technology to support shifts in operations – for example with increased pick-up and delivery. Bars and restaurants that generated between $500K and $1M in revenue in 2019 are eligible for up to $25,000, and bars and restaurants that generated less than $500K in revenue in 2019 are eligible for up to $10,000. Hotels that generated less than $8M in revenue in 2019 are eligible for up to $50,000. As we understand, the grants will be selected by lottery and home share companies will not be eligible.
Illinois Small Business Emergency Loan Fund
DCEO and the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) are establishing the Illinois Small Business Emergency Loan Fund to offer small businesses low-interest loans of up to $50,000. Businesses located outside of the City of Chicago with fewer than 50 workers and less than $3 million in revenue in 2019 will be eligible to apply. Successful applicants will owe nothing for six months and will then begin making fixed payments at a below-market interest rate for the remainder of a five-year loan term. Starting this Friday, March 27th, interested businesses will be able to express interest by completing a form on the IL DCEO website
Click Here for more information on this IL DCEO support measure.
Business Support from the City of Naperville
The City is waiving late fees for non-payment of utility bills through March, April and May 2020 and has suspended water and electric service disconnections for non-payment for both residential and commercial customers.
Additionally, the city’s executive order extends:
- All currently issued tobacco licenses that were set to expire on April 30, 2020 and suspends the renewal process and any late fees
- Deadline for food and beverage tax payments for March, April and May 2020
- Deadline for hotel and motel tax returns for the reporting period starting on the first day of January
- Deadline for payment of taxes related to local gas sold in February, March and April 2020
- Billing schedule for commuter parking fees for the second quarter
- Delays the payment deadline for parking tickets issued between March 6 and April 7
For more details on any of the above provisions, please see the full executive order posted at www.naperville.il.us/coronavirus-resources
Federal Economic Stimulus Package
We are still waiting for the dust to settle on the federal $2 trillion stimulus deal. Our hope is to have more details in our update tomorrow (3/26/2020).
Stay tuned for daily updates and do not hesitate to reach out for additional details or resources about the information provided in today’s brief.
Reba Osborne, Director of Government Affairs
(630) 544-3387