Council approves $200,000 to go to business grants, COVID expenses and restaurant vouchers

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - City Council approved $200,000 Tuesday to be used in the South Lake Tahoe community through business grants, COVID-related expenses, and a restaurant voucher program.

Following on the heels of their $50,000 donated to five nonprofits supplying food to the South Lake Tahoe community during the pandemic, the Council voted to follow the direction of the task force and allocate $100,000 to fund the COVID Compliance Grant Reimbursement Program, $50,000 for a Small Business Grant Program, and $50,000 to a Local Restaurant Voucher Program.

The City's Short-Term Economic Recovery Task Force subcommittee met several times to decide how the City could best help locals and local businesses and presented their plan to Council for direction and a vote.

Council voted unanimously to send a total of $200,000 in funds out into the community. The task force had initially thought $6M would be needed in recovery funds, but with a possible significant budget shortfall, all of those funds are not readily available at this time.

Small Business Grants

The Small Business Grant Program is in response to the current struggle many South Lake Tahoe businesses are experiencing during COVID-19 closures. The El Dorado Community Foundation will be managing the account and seeking contributions from others to help the fund grown. Applications will be reviewed on a weekly basis for the determination of grants up to $5,000 to offset outstanding bills associated with the cost of doing business.

The City's allocation of $50,000 is meant to spur private-sector donations, according to Councilwoman Brooke Laine who was on the sub-committee.

Compliance Grants

The compliance grants would reimburse businesses up to $2,500 for COVID-related expenses including personal protective gear, hand sanitizer stations, cashier screening and barrier improvements, social distance signage, and furniture necessary to comply with physical distancing (more two-top tables for example).

Go to https://covid19.ca.gov/industry-guidance/ for more detailed information and refer to the COVID-19 Industry Guidance document that represents your business industry.

Businesses will be asked to submit paid receipts, along with photos of the improvements to recovery@cityoflst.us in order to receive 50-percent reimbursement.

Food Vouchers

In a move to help both South Lake Tahoe restaurants and local residents, Council voted to give out $50,000 worth of $25 vouchers to residents to be used at participating restaurants (for food items only).

The Locals Eat SLT Restaurant Voucher Program is planned to help start the wheels of the local economy turning, and as Council said, a creative and thoughtful way to get funds into the small restaurants' hands, add social and add morale benefits. The vouchers can be used for curbside and delivery also.

To sign up as a participating restaurant, please submit your request in email, no later than 5:00 p.m. on Monday, May 18 to recovery@cityofslt.us. Participating restaurants will then be asked to submit redeemed vouchers to the City Administrative Services Department located at 1901 Lisa Maloff Way inside the Lake Tahoe Airport. Reimbursement checks will be generated and mailed bi-weekly to the restaurants.

Further information on vouchers will be released by May 19.

To get more information about any of these projects please email recovery@cityofslt.us.