Erie County Legislator John Mills and members of the Minority Caucus introduced a resolution asking for a full accounting of the County’s Back to Business relief program once the application process has concluded. The resolution passed the Legislature during Thursday afternoon’s session.

The County Executive introduced the program in conjunction with 43 North in order to award grants to Erie County businesses recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic. Under the plan, grants ranging from $10,000 to $45,000 will be available to qualifying businesses through the County’s CARES Act funds. Since the program’s release, there have been 1,700 applicants requesting a total of $27.7 million. Once the application process is closed, the resolution requests 43 North provide the following information to the Legislature:

• The name of the applicant/business owner regardless of whether or not they received a grant
• The name and address of the business
• The type of business
• The grant amount applied for and the grant amount awarded
• A written reason for any applications that were denied or did not receive a grant award
• The date of the grant award or date of decision to deny a grant application
• The date the grant application was received
• The score/rating the application received
• A written description of the algorithm being used to score or analyze the program

Legislator Mills said, “Businesses everywhere are struggling right now, and there’s been overwhelming interest in this program so far. Legislators, taxpayers, and business owners deserve to know how the grant funding has been allocated. I hope the selection process is conducted fairly and I look forward to reviewing 43 North’s report after the applications are processed.”

Under the resolution, 43 North is expected to deliver the report to the Legislature no later than January 15, 2021. A copy of the resolution can be viewed here.