Covington approves changes to small-business incentive program

The Covington City Commission approved revisions to the city’s small business incentive programs at its meeting June 13.

The decision followed revision proposals delivered by Covington’s Director of Economic Development Tom West, at the caucus meeting a week before on June 6.

After some discussion among commissioners on Tuesday, the commission revised the guidelines even further to expand the population segments favored by the policy to include firefighters and police officers.

The incentive program is designed to attract, retain and expand locally owned small businesses by giving forms of aid and investment that may be otherwise difficult to come by, especially for startups, which are often strapped for resources.

The incentives are divided into two categories: rent subsidies and facade improvement grants.

Rent subsidies offer reimbursements to eligible businesses for up to half of the business’s rent or $500, whichever is less.

Facade grants give a 50% matching forgivable loan of up to $6,000 to help businesses improve the condition of their buildings’ exteriors. They’re often used to make improvements to lighting, windows and paint.

To be eligible for a rent subsidy, a small business must meet the following criteria:

• It must either be completely new or a significant expansion to an existing business.

• It must have entered into at least a

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two-year lease in a commercial property.

• It must have at least one full-time employee whose wages are reported to the city and other taxing jurisdictions.

• It must have obtained proper business licensing.

• It cannot discriminate based on race, gender, sexual orientation and other identity characteristics delineated in Covington’s human rights ordinance.

Cash-checking businesses, home-based businesses and any business that owns the land on which it sits are not eligible for rent subsidies.

“It (the rent subsidy) allows a business to really focus on their business that first year and not have to worry about making the rent,” said West during his presentation on June 6.

Similar guidelines exist for facade improvements, although a requirement for consistency with Covington’s historic preservation strictures is also present. To that end, facade improvement designs must be approved by the city’s historic preservation specialist to be eligible.

West proposed the following changes to the rent subsidy program on June 6:

• Businesses would need to disclose any 1099 workers contracted with the business.

• Businesses that rent space in publicly owned buildings would become ineligible.

• Special favor would be granted to businesses whose owners self-disclose as LGBTQ+ (businesses owned by racial minorities, women and vet- erans already receive similar favor).

• If the business wishes to hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony, they must coordinate it with the city.

He also proposed the following changes to the facade improvement program:

• In addition to an inspection by the historic preservation specialist, the business must also obtain a certificate of appropriateness from the city to ensure consistent historic preservation standards, even if the property doesn’t fall within a historic district.

• City funding would only go towards facades facing the street.

• Special favor would be granted to businesses whose owners self-disclose as LGBTQ+ (businesses owned by racial minorities, women and veterans already receive similar favor).

• Historic sign improvements, which were already part of the facade program, don’t necessarily need to be original to the building, allowing owners to add new historic signs to their exteriors.

At the meeting on June 13, Commissioner Ron Washington, who formerly worked as a police officer, asked the commission to add police officers and firefighters to the list of owners favored by the policy, in addition to racial minorities, women, veterans and members of the LGBTQ+ community.

Washington argued that this would be a way to draw in more recruits to the police force.

“As many of you already know,” Washington said to the attendees of the meeting. “Our police department is currently in the midst of trying to recruit people. It’s been

10 15% % % a very tough ask throughout our country.”

He compared recent recruiting efforts to ones he’d witnessed during his career.

“Recently we gave a civil service examination, and only six people showed up,” Washington said. “Just to give you some context, many years ago when I took the Cincinnati exam there was thousands. When I took the Florence exam, there was hundreds.”

After some discussion, he added that spouses and other family members of a police officer or firefighter’s family should also be eligible for the rent subsidy.

The commission voted unanimously to pass the new guidelines. They will take effect on July 1.

For more information, including how to apply for a small business incentive, visit the city of Covington’s Department of Economic Development’s website.