Petersburg utility customers and local businesses will be able to apply for more of the borough’s coronavirus relief money. The borough assembly Monday approved CARES Act funding for a second round of business grants as well as a utility subsidy for residential customers.
With one vote the assembly allocated half a million dollars of the borough’s federal funding for utility customers. Residents can apply for a one-time account credit of 500 dollars for things like garbage, water, sewer and electrical service.
“Yeah this is a good idea. I think we should do it,” said assembly member Dave Kensinger.
The rest of the assembly agreed in a unanimous vote.
The credit is for residents who have seen economic impact from the pandemic and expect that to continue. The application deadline on that program is November 30th.
Another assembly vote Monday approved a second round of business grants that could total another 100,000 dollars. The borough government had already allocated half a million dollars for businesses showing losses from the pandemic. Most of that has been paid out already in the first round of grants; any remainder will carry over for the second round. This second round will drop the eligibility requirements for business losses. That also passed the assembly by unanimous vote.
The application deadline for the business grants is November 20.
The votes this week allocate all but 220,000 dollars of the borough’s 3.9 million dollars in emergency funding, although not all of the allocated money may be spent.
