Covington voted this week to reform its small business incentive programs for the upcoming fiscal year, which begins July 1.
The program is updated annually based on the city’s broad economic conditions. The city has three programs, all designed to attract and keep entrepreneurial ventures: a rent incentive program, a facade improvement forgivable loan program and funding to help restore historic signs.
The facade incentive will undergo the following key changes:
- The award cap increases from $6,000 to $10,000.
- The award will now requires a certificate appropriateness from the city
- Applicants must submit an assessment of the building’s current condition in their application materials
The rent subsidy program will undergo the following key changes:
- The program will receive an official definition of a full-time employee, which will play into judging criteria
- The monitoring period for the subsidy will be changed to two years
- Companies will be limited to one rent subsidy for the lifetime of the company
- Operators and tenants of accelerators, incubators and co-working spaces become ineligible
- Various changes to scoring criteria, such as the strength of the applicants’ business plan and how well it aligns with the city’s economic development strategy
The sign program will undergo the following key changes:
- The percentage of funding business owners must match will be reduced from 25% to 20%
- The reimbursement cap will increase from $7,500 to $10,000
- Willingness to work with the American Sign Museum will be removed from scoring criteria
One notable change that affected all of the programs is that women, racial minorities, LGBTQ+ people, first responders and veterans will no longer be given special consideration in judging criteria. Economic Development Director Tom West told the commission on June 3 that this was due to changes at the federal level, which could imperil the potential for the city to receive federal grant funding in the future if they continued to include those metrics in their scoring criteria.
You can read a complete explanation of the changes as well as information on how to apply for the programs below.