Three state agencies on Wednesday awarded $48 million in Business Interruption Grants financed with federal coronavirus relief funds to 2,136 businesses significantly affected by the pandemic.
The Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism announced that it along with the Arkansas Economic Commission and the Department of Finance and Administration awarded these grants.
The Business Interruption Grant program was created to provide economic assistance to certain Arkansas businesses in the personal-care, tourism, travel, recreation and hospitality industries directly affected by government mandates related to the public-health emergency.
The applicants were notified of the grant awards on Wednesday, and the funds will be deposited into their bank accounts and available to them starting today, the Parks Department said in a news release.
"The pandemic has hit the hospitality and personal-care industries particularly hard," Gov. Asa Hutchinson said in the news release.
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"The CARES Act grants will help stabilize these small businesses, which will in turn strengthen our economy," the Republican governor said.
The CARES Act refers to the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act enacted by Congress and President Donald Trump in March. The state received $1.25 billion, and Hutchinson appointed a 15-member steering committee to recommend the best use of the relief funds.
Melissa Whitfield, a spokeswoman for the Parks Department, said the state received 3,118 applications between Nov. 16 and Nov. 25 for the grants with reimbursement claims totaling $562.2 million.
She said the 2,136 grant award recipients determined to be eligible for the program and validated during the program review had $448.9 million in reimbursement claims.
The grants provide reimbursement for a portion of specific eligible expenses incurred by businesses in certain industries between March 1 and Sept. 30, according to the Parks Department. Grants were awarded on a prorated basis, depending on several factors including the number of applicants and the amount of reimbursement requested.
[DOCUMENT: Awards by applicant » arkansasonline.com/1224awards/]
Businesses with 250 or fewer full-time employees in Arkansas were eligible to seek reimbursement for expenses associated with pandemic mitigation or certain business interruption expenses directly related to local state or federal government health directives, the department said.
Those directives include Hutchinson ordering the closure of all restaurant dining rooms, bars and gymnasiums, aiming to slow the spread of the coronavirus in March.
The list of businesses awarded grants and the amount awarded are available at Arkansasready.com.
The largest grants were for $250,000, according to the list provided by the Parks Department.
The recipients of $250,000 awards included:
• American Multi-Cinema Inc.
• Benton County Lodging LLC, doing business as Hilton Garden Inn Bentonville.
• Big Orange Development II LLC.
• FF Hotels Inc.
• FHW II Little Rock LLC.
• Generations Inc.
• HIS Lodging LLC.
• JDHQ Hotels LLC.
• Jet Enterprises LLC.
• Jetty Entertainment LLC.
• Magic Springs Holdings LLC.
• McCain Lodging Downtown LLC.
• NWA Hotel Opportunity LLC.
• University of Arkansas Winthrop Rockefeller Institute.
• Walton Boulevard Lodging, doing business as Doubletree Guest Suites.
In the coronavirus relief measure passed this week, Congress extended the Dec. 30 deadline for states to spend their CARES Act funds for a year, said Scott Hardin, a spokesman for the finance department. Trump hadn't taken action on that bill as of Wednesday.
According to the finance department, the state has $41.9 million in unallocated relief funds and $115.6 million in federal funds allocated to state agencies that hadn't been spent, according to a finance department document dated Wednesday.
The Arkansas Legislative Council on Friday approved the department's request for spending authority of up to $300 million so it could transfer unspent relief funds to the state unemployment insurance trust fund if Congress doesn't extend the current Dec. 30 deadline to use the aid.
State Budget Director Jake Bleed told lawmakers he anticipated that the department would be able to transfer roughly $100 million into the trust fund as reimbursement for pandemic-related costs.