Morrison County approves business relief funding recipients

Morrison County businesses impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic have a little relief headed their way.

The Board of Commissioners approved on Tuesday the distribution of $644,850 in Morrison County Grant Relief Program funding.

In December 2020, the state Legislature and Gov. Tim Walz approved a bill providing relief for businesses and nonprofits adversely impacted by COVID-19. The $216.8 million relief package included $114.8 million to be distributed among Minnesota’s 87 counties. That funding was to be distributed by each county through a locally-established program.

“With that, I was directed by you to develop a program — we looked at the application, we ran an application program — that ran through mid-January to early-February,” said Morrison County Administrator Deb Gruber.

The county received 129 applications for funds requested in excess of $3.6 million. Of those, 102 received funding based on five identifying criteria: $2,000 for qualifying entities that were not directly ordered to be closed by Executive Order 99 (EO-99); $3,500 for qualifying entities that were directly ordered to be closed by EO-99 and received direct payment from the Minnesota Department of Revenue; $13,000 for qualifying entities that were directly ordered to be closed by EO-99 and did not receive a direct payment from the state; $8,000 for qualifying hotels and motels that have been significantly impacted by COVID-19 and the governor’s orders; and $15,000 for qualifying entities that were ordered closed by EO-99 or substantially impacted by COVID governor’s orders and largely unfunded by other programs.

“I just wanted to take a minute to thank (County Recorder) Eileen Holtberg,” Gruber said. “She’s the one who helped me orchestrate those research components that came with looking at each individual applicant and looking through the state system and also through property taxes. I know the auditor/treasurer helped also, but I appreciate that a lot because that was already a lot to manage and I reached out to her to help. She did without complaint, so I appreciate that a lot.”

“I do want to thank you also for all the work,” said Board President Mike Wilson. “I know people think it’s easy to give money away, but it’s a real chore to do this stuff to make it as fair as possible. I do want to thank you and your committee for everything you guys did.”

Gruber said checks would be cut and sent out on March 4, along with a letter explaining the grant process.

There were 50 businesses that received funding and were listed as a priority based on EO-99.

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