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wbjournal.com | March 30, 2020 | Worcester Business Journal 21 If you've spent a lifetime thinking the government is the enemy, you might as well stop reading right here, but if you're interested, there are incentives for small businesses to help subsidize their payrolls, rental or mortgage costs, and support cash flow over the next 90 days of this coronavirus nightmare. Governments in several other countries have with great speed put in large relief packages to prop up their workers and their sagging economies. Our leaders in Washington, D.C. are finally following suit, but in their typical dysfunction fashion. As of this moment the $2-trillion dollar legislation is sitting on the table in the House aer passing the U.S. Senate unanimously, and it appears inevitable President Donald Trump will sign the bill into law shortly. We can't blame anyone who is skeptical, but please try to get past that to learn more about what's in the bill for you and your employees. Maybe it makes sense for you. e Keeping Workers Paid and Employment Act section helps businesses with 500 or fewer employ- ees (which includes nonprofits, sole proprietor- ships, etc.) by providing $367 billion of funding to subsidize employers who maintain their payroll and avoid layoffs, as well as funding to help pay the rent or mortgage from March through June 30. (Note: some of the recaps of the bill indicate the start date is Feb. 15.) At this stage, the horses are out of the barn on the layoff front, so the package will likely accommodate employers who run the numbers and see a win bringing at least some of those folks back on the payroll. Why would an employer bring back staff they just laid off to lower overhead if it's only going to put them deeper in a financial hole? Likely, they would not. But if paying for a good chunk of those salaries is helpful, maybe it makes sense. ese loans are 100% backed by the federal government, and an early reading indicates they do not require any personal guarantees. e details are still coming out as we write this, but it appears if you borrow funds under this program for the full qualifying period, say 16 weeks, the loan amount for eight of those weeks will be fully forgiven, which would come out to about a half subsidy of payroll and rent/mortgage. is will require further study for everyone to see if it is a fit for your circumstanc- es. If your business is shut down, keeping employees on the payroll, even at half price may not make sense. So what is the catch? e requirements are not onerous. ere is a maximum loan amount of $10 million, and the government won't loan for any por- tion of any individual salaries exceeding $100,000 a year. Ok, if you've got a bunch of high earners and sign up for this program, they are going to make less, but still more than unemployment. But most folks aren't making that kind of money, so you'd be fully qualified for anyone under that $100,000 level as long as you maintain their regular salary, or close to it. Aer that, you still have coverage for a portion of the rent or mortgage on your building. is legislation allows you to get the funds to cover payroll expenses for up to four months, plus rent or mortgage, and any term loan. As long as you keep accurate records and don't cut corners, a good chunk (currently reading the forgiveness period as eight weeks) of those loan amounts spent as directed will be forgiven. e government picks up their part of the tab on this as long as you maintain a steady number of employees making their regular paycheck for this period. Is that enough of an incentive to have you not pull the trigger on further layoffs? Maybe, maybe not. But dig into the offering to understand what this potential funding means to your business and employees first. is program will be administered through our local banks and credit unions, and potentially other lenders as well. What can you do today to get ready? A simple list includes a run of your last 12 months of payroll, and a view of what you paid staff during the same March 1 - June 30 period in 2019. You should call your banker or accountant and ask for their help in gaining a deeper understanding of this program and can help you evaluate the incentives for your situation. ey'll just be getting up to speed too, but push hard to get clear answers. e government is trying to avoid a catastrophic level of layoffs that may take years for our country to recover from. If you are a small business hurting for cash, make learning about this program, its risks and rewards, a top priority. It's not a solution for everyone, but it may help a lot of us survive. Stay tuned, we'll be sending updates on this small busi- ness loan program as the details roll out. New Government loan program for small business lends a hand, promises some forgiveness V I E W P O I N T E D I T O R I A L The Worcester Business Journal welcomes letters to the editor and commentary submissions. Please send submissions to Brad Kane, editor, at bkane@wbjournal.com. W Now is the time for community I t seeped into my being – community. It started as I was a four-year-old watching my mom make beef barley soup, then delivering it to our neighbor Mr. Eaton, because he was ill. As an eight-year-old, living overseas, I watched the telephone tree as one mom called another to report that Fa- ro's Market had a shipment of Oreo's. As a teen, for three years I watched my dad invite every family on our street over during a Sunday aernoon in the fall. My dad was a street captain for United Way. His message was simple and inspiring. "Here is what we are donating. I ask all of you to do the same. anks. Now let's watch some football." I did not realize it at the time, but my parents were giving me lessons in the importance of community: how we help out each other, we share in times of bounty and in times of challenge, we work together. Working in community, working in the nonprofit sector became my life's work – at my local YMCA, in the Peace Corps, and now at the United Way of Central Massachusetts. Every day for the past 14 years here in Worcester, I have seen beautiful examples of community. It is a group of people organized as Amor Para Puerto Rico to ensure those displaced because of Hurricane Maria were cared for. It is a group of students at South High Community School volun- teering and learning at Andy's Attic, all the while operating a clothes pantry. It is a banker, a lawyer, a chemist, a business person, a machinist, an educator – all serving together on the board of a local nonprofit, setting policy and strategy to help the community. It is community, and it is beautiful. In the past two weeks, community has become more than just a word, it is both noun and verb. e coronavirus is affecting all of us. And in extraordinary times, extraordinary actions are required. Worcester Together was born. Worcester Together is a powerful partnership between the City of Worcester, the Greater Worcester Community Foundation and the United Way of Central Massachusetts. Worcester Together is effectively coordinating communi- ty-wide fundraising and co-managing and co-administer- ing grant making. It includes businesses and corporations, nonprofits, family foundations, the clergy, media, residents, organized labor, and elected officials. ere is a response team working to coordinate resources and address gaps in such areas as food, housing and shelter, education and youth development, health and mental health services.Best of all are the stories of giving and of hope: Temporary emergency shelters are in place and operating; emergency child care services for front-line workers and first responders are open; armies of volunteers are organized to support and deliver food; students from the UMass Medical School have become the collectors of personal protective equipment for first responders. Watching this massive collective effort, I realize again Worcester is the Heart of the Commonwealth because of the great compassion demonstrated by so, so many. Tim Garvin is president and CEO of the United Way of Central Massachusetts. BY TIM GARVIN Special to the Worcester Business Journal Tim Garvin W "I 'm from the government, and I'm here to help" Former President Ronald Regan made this saying famous by calling those the nine most terrifying words in the English language. His point: Who would ever get suckered into believing it?