City Of Superior Gets Some Economic Relief Amid Pandemic

Nearly $700,000 is being allocated to offer financial relief.

SUPERIOR, Wis.- The City of Superior is responding to the economic impact on its community.

Superior Mayor Jim Paine recently announced proposals for the Superior Coronavirus Relief package.

The package is a nearly $700,000 investment to help bring back some economic stability to the city.

More than $400,000 from the package is being proposed to fund the Community Development Block Grant.

This grant is being split into three different parts.

A quarter of a million is being allocated for a rental assistance program to help families with low to moderate incomes, who have fallen behind on rental payments or are looking to make future payments.

Up to $50,000 will help pay for hotel costs used to house people experiencing homelessness that need to be quarantined, due to potential exposure to Covid-19.

The remaining CBDG funds of about $100,000 are being offered to non-profits such as the Center Against Sexual and Domestic Abuse, to continue to help the people they serve.

“We don’t expect it to go very far. This is a band-aid on a very large open wound,” said Mayor Paine. “This is not enough to ultimately get us through, but we need to be part of a local, state, and federal government response to an unprecedented crisis.

Also proposed in the relief package is the Superior Economic Relief Fund.

This includes about $80,000 of the Superior Small Business Grant to be set aside to fund an emergency microgrant to support businesses impacted by Covid-19.

Small businesses applying for this grant can receive up to $1,500, but there is a catch.

Those businesses must be able to prove any financial setbacks caused by the pandemic.

The city of superior is also waiving fees for licenses such as gaming, liquor, and tobacco.

But if a business has their licenses fees waived that will count towards the $1,500 cap in relief funding.

Small businesses applying for this grant can not apply for any other larger grants for a total of 12 months.

A final piece of the coronavirus package is the City of Superior is waiving all late charges for wastewater, stormwater, and landfill fees for the remainder of the year.

This is giving citizens and businesses the opportunity to pay what they can.

This is costing the city nearly $100,000 in revenue.

The Community Development Block Grant proposal won’t go before the Superior City Council until June.

The council will meet on Tuesday to vote on the Superior Economic Relief Fund.