Algonquin receives $350,000 grant from state to give to businesses affected by COVID-19

The village of Algonquin was awarded $350,000 from the state to help businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Grant amounts vary from $5,000 to $15,000 and will be proportional to the amount of businesses' documented losses attributable to the COVID-19 public health emergency, according to Algonquin Village Board documents.

The village board unanimously approved an agreement Tuesday between the village and Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, the state agency working with local governments to distribute federal COVID-19 relief dollars to qualified businesses.

The village already has reviewed business applications to its Impacted Business Relief Grant Program and made a determination on their eligibility for funding, Assistant Village Manager Mike Kumbera said.

"We're ready to move forward once and issue the payments once this agreement is executed by the board," Kumbera said during Tuesday's village board meeting.

To be eligible for these grants, businesses needed to be in Algonquin, be a tax generating business with sales not exceeding $4 million and generate walk-in traffic.

"We did our best to really get this out and try to communicate (it) to as many businesses as we could, to hopefully get them a little bit of support," he said.

The village of Cary and city of Crystal Lake also recently received money for COVID-19-impacted businesses through the same state program.