Small business the big winner in Council grants program:
Around 150 small businesses in Launceston will benefit from innovation grants allocated under the City of Launceston's $8.9m Community Care and Recovery Package.
The innovation grants program is designed to allow Launceston's small businesses — around half of which have little to no online presence — to shift their products and services to the online marketplace and/or to enhance links with customers across Tasmania and the globe.
Originally a $650,000 initiative, the overwhelming popularity of the grants resulted in the City of Launceston last week voting to inject a further $213,000 into the program.
This additional funding will only be open to small businesses that have already applied for the 'Level 1' tier, and not to new applicants.
This funding will assist businesses who receive professional advice through a level one grant to implement their identified ecommerce solutions. Further details on this additional funding will be provided in the next several weeks.
Launceston Mayor Albert van Zetten said while the grants program only represented a small portion of the $8.9m Community Care and Recovery Package, it was already making a difference.
"We know there are businesses around Launceston who have been able to keep operating because of these grants, and businesses that have been able to keep employees on," Mayor van Zetten said.
"We're delighted that we've been able to respond so quickly to the needs of businesses that are in danger of closing, and also those that needed a helping hand to adapt to changing conditions moving forward.
"This means the securing of jobs in a range of industries in Northern Tasmania at this critical time, which will have an untold positive economic impact in the months and years to come."
Mayor van Zetten said Council staff were working to assess the remaining submissions as quickly as possible against a range of relevant assessment criteria.
These criteria require businesses to demonstrate a genuine need, demonstrate creative and innovative solutions to current business challenges and demonstrate that any required support and expertise could be provided by a partner local business.
"We're fortunate as a Council to have a team of staff who are highly skilled at administering and assessing grants programs, and this has allowed us to roll out a significant, targeted and agile program in a very short space of time," he said.
"It has also been a very competitive process, with many businesses going to great lengths to demonstrate how they meet the assessment criteria, and working fast to get their submissions in.
"This means not all applications have been successful, and that some businesses have missed out because funding has run out.
"We have limited funds compared to other tiers of government, and we feel for businesses who have missed out.
"We make no apologies for developing and implementing a targeted and swift grants program designed to keep Northern Tasmanians in employment, and to keep small businesses afloat in the most significant economic crisis of the past 100 years.
"For those who did miss out, or for businesses in other municipalities, there are business support measures available through the State and Federal Governments, and we'd strongly encourage businesses to familiarise themselves with those programs."
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”Martin Luther King.
Against the background that this $650,000 is money provided by the city’s ratepayers and residents a lot of questions need to be asked to put these grants in context. This money is not the Council’s money and it didn’t fall out of the sky, it was hard won by ratepayers!
So, to the questions:
- Who made the decision about who would get a grant in order to recommend their payment to the elected representatives?
- What information did the applicants provide and where is that information documented?
- What business case were the applicants required to present in order to be eligible for consideration?
- Who are successful applicants and what class of business do they operate?
- When will ratepayers and the unsuccessful applicants discover who got what for what?
- What guarantees does Council have that the money provided will be used for the purpose for which it was provided?
- When are the recipients’ due to report to Council that they have fulfilled their obligation to use the money for the purpose for which it was provided and on what evidence?
- When will Council report to ratepayers on the success or otherwise of this initiative and in accord with what criteria?
- Which Councillors are prepared to unreservedly endorse this process as an appropriate use of ratepayer’s funds under the current circumstance?
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