Westmoreland County opens up second round of covid-relief grants

The application period for Westmoreland County small businesses and nonprofit organizations seeking additional grants for reimbursements to cover coronavirus-related expenses opened Friday. Requests will be considered on a first-come, first-serve basis through the end of the year.

County commissioners said small businesses will be first in line for grants of up to $25,000 from a pool of federal funds allocated this summer. The county received $31.5 million for the grant program and, over the last several months, spent most of that money to reimburse itself for costs associated with the virus response as well as allocations to more than 260 small businesses and 77 nonprofits.

Initially, officials earmarked $10 million in grants for government entities, small businesses and nonprofit agencies, but program changes reduced the projected allocations. A total of $5.5 million to date has gone to small business and nonprofits. Commissioners last month unexpectedly awarded a $5 million grant to Excela Health to help cover the hospital’s losses attributed to the coronavirus.

Grants of up to $30,000 could be awarded to municipalities as early as next week.

The final $2 million left from the federal CARES Act allocation will be used for the second round of small business grants. Small businesses that received the maximum $25,000 grant already are ineligible for additional funds.

“If businesses didn’t get the full amount in the first round, they can apply for additional funds,” said Commissioner Sean Kertes. The second round will cover virus-related financial losses from March through October.

Details about the application process are posted on the county’s website.

Grants to nonprofits will be considered only if there is money available in December. Commissioners said they were told by state officials that an additional allocation of CARES Act money may come Dec. 1 and must be spent by the end of the year.

“We need to have applications in place. We can’t dilly dally around,” Kertes said.

The additional cash, if received, will be used for the nonprofit grants, commissioners said.

“We don’t know how much money we will be getting. If we get that money, I want to honor my promise to give $5 million dollars to small businesses and nonprofits,” Commissioner Gina Cerilli said.

Commissioners said county-based volunteer fire departments, which were excluded from receiving funds in the first round, will be considered for awards.

Officials said 17 fire departments sought funds in the first round but were erroneously ruled as ineligible. Commissioner Doug Chew said commissioners were improperly advised that fire companies were to be excluded because those organizations were eligible to receive CARES Act funding from other sources.

Cerilli agreed and blamed the large grant to Excela, which she opposed, as another reason why fire departments were not awarded grants.

“It was our mistake that the fire departments didn’t get money in the last round,” Cerilli said.