MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. — Montgomery County Council plans to discuss how they plan to handle the impact of the pandemic in 2021 on Tuesday.
Montgomery County Council President Tom Hucker said small businesses need additional support to make it through the winter months.
“It would be such a shame if any businesses, which could be successful again in the summer, go out of business between now and then. It’s a finite amount of time and money to keep them up and running and we just need to get through that. I hope people continue to patronize their local businesses and I really hope the state and federal government come through with more funding,” said Hucker.
Hucker said their top priority of next year will be on public health and economic recovery. When it comes to the economic crisis, he hopes there will soon be additional assistance on the way.
The five district councilmembers introduced a $1.25 million aid program to help keep restaurants afloat.
“Obviously, winter is beginning, it’s cold out there, we want to keep our restaurants afloat. We’ve been doing a lot of work towards that end all summer and fall and we need to do more of it,” said Hucker.
Hucker said the money would go towards items like tents and heaters to help local businesses through the winter months.
“Small businesses produce about $.70 on every dollar in Montgomery County. They create so many jobs. Most of our workers work for small or medium-sized businesses and unfortunately, we’ve gotten really inefficient support from the state and there’s been a complete lack of leadership at the White House,” said Hucker.
“We have good news on the horizon with a vaccine, but we really can’t afford to lose any of our small businesses or put any more of our people out of work. It’s totally avoidable and we need the state government and the federal government to prevent that,” said Hucker.
If businesses are in need of this support, they should contact their regional service center directly.