Credit: Ruth Pritchard
Ruth Pritchard
That was in December. Since then, state leaders say 2,721 of the 2,970 recipients of the South Carolina CARES Act Relief Grant Programs, including the Nonprofit Relief Grant Program, have received funds, but more than 200 businesses are still waiting. Currently, there are 235 minority and small businesses that have not received payment yet. Payments for those recipients are being processed through the state’s established payment process, which is used to make any payment on behalf of the state to various entities or vendors, Kelly Coakley, a spokesperson for the S.C. Department of Administration, said in a statement. Many of the applications left to be paid will need to provide additional financial information so that their information can be validated and their payments can be completed using the state’s normal processes. We are actively reaching out to those applicants.
And the winners likely won t get the cash, expected this month, until January.Â
State officials blamed the delay on the volume of applications and required verification.Â
Notifications to applicants chosen to receive a piece of $65 million in coronavirus aid that the Legislature approved in September, and how much they ll get, will start going out by week s end and wrap up Dec. 30, according to the state Department of Administration, which is supervising the process.
That s weeks later than expected, which could seem like a lifetime for business owners unable to pay their bills amid the continued pandemic, said Frank Knapp, president of the state s Small Business Chamber of Commerce.Â