NJBIA President & CEO Michele Siekerka, Esq.
NJBIA President & CEO Michele Siekerka tells New Jersey Network News’ Larry Mendte that unspent federal CARES Act funds already distributed to New Jersey should be used to help Garden State businesses that are barely hanging on after months of closures and COVID-19 operating restrictions.
“We’ve had federal CARES Act money sitting on the sidelines, not being utilized now for eight months—money that has to be spent by the end of the year,” Siekerka told Mendte on “Jersey Matters” over the weekend. “We should free up more of that money for the business community.”
And while businesses need more financial resources, the one thing they do not need is more burdensome and costly mandates, especially now, Siekerka said.
“We have asked the government… to take a pause,” Siekerka said. “No more mandates on New Jersey businesses while they’re just trying to take a breath in order to get to a point where they maybe can turn a dollar in profit again,” Siekerka said.
To watch the entire interview, go here.
I read the synopsis of the Governor’s talk at NJBIA’s Public Policy Forum and was dumbstruck by his totally blind optimism.
For example $166 million in funds for 35,000 small businesses? That average is roughly only $4700 per business. I’m a tiny business and that’s equivalent to only 2 weeks revenue!
I’m one of the lucky businesses that has been able to operate through most of this with no real impact but I see the impact on other small businesses and am deeply saddened by what those business owners and their families must be going through.
What can we do? How do we make the true picture come alive?
I concur. We’ve been in business since the 1990’s and I’ve run this “essential services” small business since 2002, working 60+ hour weeks as a 100% woman owned business. Everything I have applied for timely has run out of $, seemingly within the blink of an eye!
In applying for the most recent Small Business Emergency Assistance Phase 3 Grant Program, I was informed that my business was deemed ineligible because “you stated that your organization is a transient merchant (peddler, popup (sic) store, or itinerant vendor).” I stated no such thing. I listed my business as a drive-through system and timing device sales center for the Quick Service Restaurant Industry (QSR). I filed an immediate appeal and continue to await the outcome. The system as a whole is NOT helping those small businesses seeking assistance and I am wholly disgusted.