Budget projections and federal grant program

Edmond is continuing to keep up with budget projections after receiving the latest sales tax check. Combined sales and use tax receipts total 6.65% through the first six months of the city’s fiscal year. What makes this report even more impressive is the fact that last year’s sales tax was a substantial increase of almost 18% over the same period in 2018. These numbers do yet include Christmas shopping, which we hope will continue a positive trend.

In the last month, Oklahoma County ran a Small Business and Nonprofit Grant Program with $15 million of Federal CARES ACT funding. These funds were available to cities in the county except for Oklahoma City because they received a direct allocation of CARES funding and ran their own project for OKC companies. I had the opportunity to sit on the disbursement committee, where we approved approximately $14.7 million for 268 businesses and nonprofits in Oklahoma County. More than 125 of those were Edmond companies.

The average award to applicants is about $60,000. As of this writing, the review continues on the remainder of the applications. All applicants should have been notified of their application status by the end of the year. It was clear that many companies need assistance. The CARES Act funding certainly is helping to preserve jobs as well as stabilizing our economy.

Since April, the EEDA and the Edmond Chamber have run several small business grant programs totaling just under $400,000, assisting over 130 companies. The effects of this pandemic are not over. Edmond companies are still facing challenges that will, unfortunately, carry into the new year. Follow the EEDA and the Edmond Chamber to keep up with the different funding assistance programs at the local, state, and federal levels as they come available.