BERLIN — State officials have announced they will remove one of the caps for the state’s Business Emergency Gap Assistance Program to help businesses recover from July’s flooding, while also encouraging residents not to wait to fix or replace flood-damaged heating systems with temperatures starting to fall.
The state has allocated $20 million for the program. At the state’s regular news conference Wednesday, Gov. Phil Scott said the assistance program initially had a cap of $20,000 for businesses, landlords and nonprofits impacted by this summer’s flooding. Scott said the cap was put in place so that the state could get funds to those entities as soon as possible, while trying to get a handle on what the demand would be before the entire $20 million was spoken for. He said businesses have since reported over $120 million in unmet needs caused by flooding.
Scott said the state is now removing that $20,000 cap to help get businesses more funds.
“Now that many of these small businesses have reopened, this additional money should make sure they can stay open, which is equally as important,” the governor said.
Joan Goldstein, commissioner of the state Department of Economic Development, said the program also had a cap of 20% of net damages caused by flooding. Goldstein said the state is increasing that percentage to 30% to again help get businesses more funds.
She said if a business applied for the program and reported $300,000 in damage, they were initially approved for a grant of $20,000. With this change in the program, Goldstein said that business would now be eligible for a $90,000 grant.
She said those who already applied for the program won’t have to apply again due to this change. She said those entities that already received funds will receive a supplemental check from the state to cover the difference.
She said over 600 businesses, landlords and farms have applied for the program so far.
Jen Roberts, co-owner of Onion River Outdoors in Montpelier, said the Capital City is still drying out from the flood. Roberts said only a few shops have reopened there, and hers isn’t one of them.
She said she’s been dealing with mold, toxic mud, a shortage of skilled labor to rebuild, lack of federal aid and a soggy summer. She said for some businesses, this state program is the only aid they will get.
“The initial allotment started our path to recovery,” Roberts said. “Lifting the cap is going to help Onion River and many other businesses reopen and recover sooner than we could have without this help. When I heard about this additional funding, my relief brought tears to my eyes.”
Doug Farnham, the state’s chief recovery officer, urged residents who received a FEMA award for flood damage not to wait to replace or fix their heating systems before winter sets in. Farnham said even if residents are considering seeking a buyout of their home, they should still go forward with heating system repairs so that their homes are livable again. He urged residents to keep their receipts for repairs and noted these repairs will not impact the amount a resident will receive for their home buyout.
He said over 200 households have reached out inquiring about a buyout.
“But it will take time to work through that. And it would be disingenuous for me to say that we’re going to have the buyout situation resolved before the winter starts. So please, if you received an award to repair your heater, to do things that you would need in order to reoccupy for this winter, move ahead with that,” he said, adding residents can appeal what they’ve received from FEMA within 60 days of receiving the award if the amount they got is insufficient.
The governor said anecdotally, he’s been hearing about residents having issues replacing their heating systems damaged by the flood, either due to supply change issues or a lack of contractors to do the work. He said those who reported such damage to the Federal Emergency Management Administration should expect to receive a survey from a vermont.gov email address, which will help inform the state on what the needs are.
“We have no idea whether there are 50 or 1,000 (residents) who need assistance, in terms of their heating systems,” the governor said.
He said once the state gets that information, it will work with Efficiency Vermont and other associations to get those residents the assistance they need.
