Employee Detail Questions
If your employees are currently working part time now due to state restrictions, do you put their pre pandemic hours or current working hours?
Within current FTEs should reflect actual FTEs at the moment, and the number of FTEs to be retained or rehired should reflect those positions that will be directly supported by the grant within the current environment..
What is the minimum hours for a single employee to be considered as 1 FTE?
30 hours per week.
How should you come up with the Effective Wage Rate for tipped employees?
If the grant will help retain or rehire tipped employee positions, the provided Effective Wage Rate should reflect the typical pre-pandemic pay for these positions. If needed and applicable, we suggest asking the individuals in these positions if they are averaging at least a living wage ($15.50/hr without employer-provided health insurance, $14.00 with).
Will the awardees be expected to comply with 2021 Living Wage rate standard at the time of the 6 month report?
Awardees are expected to meet or exceed the 2020 Living Wage Rate as established by Just Economics ($15.50/hr without employer-provided health insurance, $14.00/hr with) throughout the program.
Can you count Independent Contractors which are hired full as a part of your FTE count?
No. Independent contractors do not count towards your business’s FTEs. They can, however, apply for a grant of their own.
If I’m a seasonal business, how should I count my employee numbers for the FTE count? I.e., what if we’re busy some of the 6 month period, and slow at other times? And what if we’re busy at the beginning of this period, and then slow down at the end?
You should only list positions you can commit to rehiring and/or retaining during the 6 month period. Your current FTE count should only reflect FTEs employed at the time of application.
If we are anticipating adding an employee mid way through the six month reporting period, should we include them in the jobs detail sheet now, and how should we do so?
You may pledge any positions that will be retained and/or rehired with the support of this grant within the 6-month period.
Can funds be utilized to support the hiring of a new position?
Yes.
Owner Position Questions
What should owners put as their effective wage on the Jobs Detail sheet if they are exempt from the living wage rate?
If you are pledging to rehire or retain an owner position, please specify “Owner” as the position and also include the owner name (ex. “Owner: Jane Doe”). You may leave the Wage column blank for these rows.
How will we be expected to report owners compensation at the 6 month report?
You will need to be able to certify that any pledged owner positions have been sustained for the duration of the grant period; however compensation details are not required for owner positions.
Can we count owners actively working in the business towards our retained positions even if they don’t draw a salary?
Yes, owners who are actively working in the business can be considered employees for this program and are exempt from the living wage requirement.
If there are multiple owners actively working in the business can you count each of them as an employee?
Yes, each owner actively working in the business counts as an employee for the purposes of this program.
If there are just two active business owners and no other employees, are we eligible for up $5000?
Yes, all owners actively working in the business count as employees for the purposes of determining the number of FTE employees retained/re-hired.
Eligibility Questions
How do you define “being in existence” prior to Jan 1, 2021?
If incorporated, your business incorporation date must precede January 1, 2021. If unincorporated, you must have been in operation and had business revenues prior to this date.
I have a DBA, but I am not incorporated – do I leave the incorporated date blank or insert the date of my DBA?
Please provide the date your DBA business operations started.
Are independent musicians eligible for this fund?
Yes, they certainly are.
If I run more than one business, or also do independent contract work outside of my business, can I apply for multiple entities?
All eligible entities may apply. However if an active owner has multiple entities, that owner may only be pledged as a retained or rehired position on one application.
Application Form & Documentation Questions
Do independent contractors, who may not normally produce financials aside from a Schedule C, also need to provide a Profit & Loss statement?
Self-employed business owners and others who provide Schedule C on their tax returns to the IRS may provide a 2020 Schedule C in place of a P&L. If you have not yet filed your Schedule C, fill it out and attach it.
Do you need to provide personal tax return as well as business tax return?
If your business files a corporate tax return, then only provide your corporate tax return. If your business activity is filed on your personal tax return then provide your Schedule C or other relevant schedule (e.g., Schedule F for farmers) that reports your business income. You do not need to include other parts of your personal tax return.
If our P&L statement is zero do we still need to include the attachment?
Yes, a P&L is still required.
Can an application be started and saved, or does it have to be completed in one sitting?
The application cannot be saved. If you may not be able to complete it in one session, we recommend downloading the PDF sample applications (available on the application home screen), writing/saving up your answers in a separate document, and then copying and pasting your responses into the online application form.
Can you review your full completed application before submitting?
Yes, use the Back and Forward buttons at the bottom of the form to navigate throughout the application and review your answers before submitting. And again: We recommend downloading the PDF document with the application questions, and writing/saving up your answers in a separate document, then copying and pasting them into the online application form. The application cannot be saved in the form itself, and we cannot guarantee that an online application form that you’ve been working on for a long period of time won’t have any issues.
Will we be able to upload a document with some explanation of our P & L or Jobs detail sheet?
Please use the open-response questions in the application, including the “anything else you’d like us to know?” question at the end of the application, to provide this additional information.
Grant Award Questions
What kind of expenses can the One Buncombe Fund Grant be used for?
The grant funds may be used for any business purposes that directly support the rehiring or retention of the pledged positions. This could include payroll, rent, utilities, supplies, inventory, or other reasonable business expenses.
Could you get an award a lower amount than requested, or will you either get the full requested amount or nothing?
Yes, depending on the number of applications, total amount of need, and the money available, award amounts may be at any amount up to the amount requested.
If the grant is awarded, when will the funds be issued?
Funds will be issued no later than the end of November.
What is the taxable responsibility for the business receiving these funds?
The IRS has determined that grants to businesses do count as taxable income.
Program Assistance Questions
Is there a cost associated for the one-on-one technical application support?
No. Mountain BizWorks’ one-on-one technical support offered for this program as well as PPP, is entirely free.
