Ohio small businesses face aid snags
Strong demand made it difficult for small businesses throughout Ohio to file applications Monday for new stimulus programs meant to help them through the pandemic.
One program provides a $10,000 grant to some small businesses while another gives $2,500 to bars and restaurants.
“Due to great interest in the Small Business Relief Grant & the Bar and Restaurant Assistance Fund programs, some customers are currently experiencing delays,” Todd Walker, a spokesman for the Ohio Development Services Agency, which is overseeing the programs, said in a tweet.
“We encourage applicants to retry submitting their applications. Thank you for your patience as we work to remedy the situation.”
Pat Baker, owner of a women’s fashion boutique called Fabtique in Upper Arlington, said both she and her accountant tried to log on at 10 a.m. when the programs launched and couldn’t get through.
“I was on right away,” she said. “We were ready, I had all my documents and everything.”
She said the aid is critical for her business to get through the coronavirus pandemic.
“Since COVID, business has been slow,” she said. “We’re hanging in there. We have great customers, loyal customers that have been wonderful, but we are definitely slow, so we could use the assistance.”
Last month, the state announced $419.5 million in federal relief programs meant to help low-income families, small businesses, hospitals, colleges, nonprofit groups, arts groups and others.
Among the programs is the Small Business Relief Grant, a $125 million fund that provides a $10,000 grant to eligible businesses with no more than 25 employees. The money is available on a first-come, first-served basis, and state executives last week urged businesses to respond quickly if they wanted a grant.
There also is $38.7 million available from the Bar and Restaurant Assistance Fund for liquor permit holders. Businesses with a permit that allows
on-premises alcohol consumption are eligible to receive $2,500 per business location. About 15,400 locations are eligible, and that money is available until Dec. 30.
Mark Braunsdorf, owner of Compass Homes, also tried to apply for the grant right at 10 a.m. He finally was able to submit his application almost three hours later.
Initially, Braunsdorf was unable to access the application.
“You’d click on it and no matter what you did, it was a circle – ‘For more information, click here’ – and it would take you back to the beginning,” he said. “If you emailed or called them, like I tried, they’d send you to the website.”
Even after Braunsdforf was able to fill out the application, he ran into a roadblock.
“I kept submitting it and just kept getting an error message – ‘Action failed. Try relaunching the application.’ ”
Braunsdorf thinks the system was bound to struggle, given how it was set up.
“The idea of first-come, firstserved was ill-fated to begin with. Did they really think the website wasn’t going to collapse?”
As a home builder, Braunsdorf is fortunate to be in an industry that has largely weathered the virus. But he also has had added expenses such as equipment, masks and laptops for those working from home, which he hoped to be able to cover with the $10,000 grant.
Businesses were urged to keep trying to get their applications filed.
“The best advice we can give is for clients is to keep trying,” said Bruce Walters, the business adviser for the Ohio Small Business Development Center at Columbus State Community College.
“Applications are successfully being received by the system and system improvements are underway. In some cases, the ‘Click here to apply’ button may not be appearing. In such cases, a business should refresh their browser, or clear their cache and refresh the browser.”
Dispatch reporters Jim Weiker and Patrick Cooley contributed to this report. mawilliams@dispatch.com @Bizmarkwilliams