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WILKES-BARRE — The city on Tuesday said it will start an emergency loan program aimed at helping locally owned and non-franchised restaurants affected by the restrictions placed on businesses due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Eligible restaurants will be able to apply for a one-year, no-interest loan up to $7,500.The money can be used to reopen and retain employees, as soon as the COVID-19 restrictions are lifted. Gov. Tom Wolf’s order last month limited bars and restaurants to offer only take-out and drive-through services in order to slow the spread of the highly contagious and deadly illness.
“The city is doing everything we can to sustain Wilkes-Barre’s small businesses. Small restaurant owners have put their heart and life savings into their businesses, choosing our city as their home. My administration has put every effort into assisting them to reopen and re-employ as soon as possible,” Mayor George Brown said in a press release announcing the program.
Brown and members of his administration will answer questions about the program on the city’s Facebook page at 4 p.m. Wednesday. Questions about the program can be emailed to the mayor’s executive assistant, Tyler Ryan at [email protected] by 1 p.m. Wednesday.
Information about the program guidelines will be listed on the city’s website, www.wilkes-barre.city/restaurantemergencyreliefloanprogram at 9 .m. Friday. The application will also be available at that time to view, download, complete, and submit by email.
Once the application is completed it will be reviewed and processed. If approved, the businesses will be able to use these funds, primarily to re-employ their workers, restock their food and beverage inventory, and other operational expenses, to assist their reopening and continuation of their business in the city. The maximum loan amount is $7,500 per restaurant. The term of the loan will be 12 months with 0.0% interest. A one-time balloon payment, for the loan amount, will be due at the end of the loan term. All participants must reopen their business within seven days of receipt of any loan amount and must stay open, as a business, for at least one year. Should the business close prior to the one-year term, the full amount of the loan will be due and payable immediately.
The funding originally was available for the Enterprise Zone Development Program that originated more than 30 years ago. However, the fund has been non-operational for more than a decade due to program changes, low-interest rates in the private financing sector and outdated boundaries of the original zone.
Rather than letting the funding to remain idle, the city restructured the program and adapted it to meet the urgent economic needs in the city as a result of the virus, the mayor said. The state Department of Community and Economic Development and state Sen. John Yudichak, I-Swoyersville, and state Rep. Eddie Day Pashinski, D-Wilkes-Barre, assisted the program’s restructuring.
