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Washington County board narrows small-business relief grant to Damascus and licensed businesses
Summary
After debate over eligibility for farmers, long-term rentals and businesses closing, supervisors directed staff to prioritize grants for businesses in Damascus with business licenses and to seek separate criteria or partnerships for agricultural losses.
The Washington County Board of Supervisors on Oct. 22 voted to narrow criteria for the county’s small-business relief grant program, prioritizing businesses in the Damascus ZIP code and requiring a business license for rental properties to qualify for relief.
Committee members presented three contested eligibility questions for board guidance: whether to limit support to short-term rentals (which pay transient-occupancy tax) or include long-term rentals, whether farmers should be eligible under the same criteria used for other businesses, and whether grants should be awarded to businesses that have closed and will not reopen.
Ms. Sturgill, who led the committee’s review of the initial 34 applications, said the group used IRS guidance on qualified disaster-relief funds to frame criteria and sought the board’s direction on short-term versus long-term rentals, farmers and business closures. Mr. Berry and other committee members said many applicants were businesses tied to Damascus’s tourism economy and that expanding eligibility too widely could exhaust available funds.
Board discussion ranged from practical definitions (using business licenses as a line of demarcation) to concerns about agricultural losses that may be drought-related rather than flood-related. Several supervisors proposed working with external partners, including Wellspring and the IDA, to create a separate allocation or technical criteria for farming losses and to ask local agricultural leaders to help set those standards.
Ultimately the board reached consensus to: prioritize Damascus businesses, accept both short- and long-term rentals that hold a business license under current criteria, and pursue separate funding or criteria for farmers rather than broadening the current grant rules. The board noted the first application round had awarded payments around $5,500 each to 34 applicants and that about $580,000 remains unallocated in the county’s disaster funds.
Board members said staff will continue reviewing remaining applications under the clarified guidance and that the county will consider exceptions or future rounds if additional funds remain.
