The Montgomery County Council has unanimously approved a $250,000 special appropriation to provide grants to businesses and non-profit organizations that incurred teleworking costs to retain employees during the public health crisis. Councilmember Friedson, who is a member of the Planning Housing and Economic Development Committee, spearheaded this appropriation which was sponsored by the entire Council.
Governor Larry Hogan issued a stay-at-home order in March to reduce the spread of the coronavirus. Many businesses implemented teleworking policies to comply with the Governor’s order. The Council is creating the Telework Assistance Program to reimburse businesses for expenses incurred to implement a teleworking policy due to the public health emergency.
A business or non-profit organization is eligible to receive assistance from the Telework Assistance Program if:
- its physical location is in the County;
- its County based locations account for more than 50 percent of the business’s total number of employees or 50 percent of the business’s gross sales;
- it employs 100 or less full-time-equivalent employees;
- it has not received financial assistance from the State or County for teleworking expenses related to the Covid-19 health crisis; and
- it has incurred expenditures after March 1, 2020 and before June 1, 2020 specifically to implement a teleworking policy.
Each eligible business and non-profit may be awarded a grant up to $2,500 for verified teleworking equipment and software. The grant will be based on actual expenditures for each business and non-profit organization. The Telework Assistance Program will be administered by the Montgomery County Economic Development Corporation.
Spearheaded by @Andrew_Friedson, the Council unanimously approved a special appropriation of $250,000 to provide grants to businesses and non-profit organizations that incurred teleworking costs in order to retain employees and keep the light on since March. pic.twitter.com/O7sAJItklQ
— Montgomery Council (@MoCoCouncilMD) May 1, 2020
