Coronavirus: Liverpool Council to hold extraordinary meeting over grants to help businesses
An urgent meeting of Liverpool Council has been called so councillors can decide whether to approve grants to help dozens of local businesses survive during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Liverpool
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Fifty businesses in Liverpool will receive business grants up to $172,000 after the council gave the green light for the funds at an extraordinary meeting last week.
Labor councillor Nathan Hagarty and Liverpool Mayor Wendy Waller called the meeting to approve Business Resilience Grants up to $5000 for small businesses experiencing difficulties during the COVID-19 pandemic.
It came after independent and Liberal councillors voted at last month’s meeting against allowing the council’s chief executive to approve grants up to $5000 for businesses across the LGA to cope with the crisis.
Liverpool Council introduced the Business Resilience Grants as part of a suite of measures to support businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Applicants can use the funds to pivot their business to adapt to the current situation — such as setting up e-commerce or promoting a new service — and all applications are assessed by a panel.
At last week’s extraordinary meeting, the council resolved to provide grants to the value of $106,000 to 28 businesses in the Liverpool CBD and grants worth $66,000 to 22 businesses across the region.
Councillor Hagarty said the funds needed to be released as soon as possible.
“Speaking to businesses and hearing from council staff, this money needs to go out as soon as it practically can. Businesses are living day to day, week to week, to keep their businesses open.”
Cr Hagarty said many local businesses were operating at a loss or without profit just to keep staff on the books, which was why the council needed to step up its support.
Even with the current lifting of restrictions, some businesses in industries such as tourism, logistics and transport were still under financial stress, he said.
“Restrictions are being lifted because there’s been very few cases of COVID-19, but you’ve still got to realise businesses have been shut for two months … it’s going to take months, if not years, for the economy to recover.”
Liverpool Community Independents Team councillor Peter Harle said his decision to vote for the council to approve the grants and not the chief executive was about ensuring accountability and transparency, not delaying support.
He said the council needed to be “very careful” about how it spent its money because it faced a $50 million revenue shortfall at the end of this financial year.
At the time of the May meeting, councillors did not have details of the applications recommended for approval, Cr Harle said.
“It’s supposed to be a council decision. We’re responsible for the budget.”