The city of Columbia is offering rebates to restaurants, bars and food trucks that paid city fees in 2020. It’s part of the city’s efforts to help businesses impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Rebates are for business licenses, liquor licenses and health inspection fees.
Applicants must meet two criteria: they were forced to change their operations or business hours due to COVID-19 restrictions, and they must have a current business license. There’s also a similar rebate program for hotels, motels and event venues.
Matthew Lue, city director of finance, said the rebate program is being funded by the city’s general-fund reserves.
“This money was made available through, basically, reimbursements from the CARES Act,” said Lue. “They reimbursed us for previous expenses. Then that allowed us to free up money for these programs.”
Lue said the average rebate will be around $312, and added that the city has received about 40 applications so far, and "we're getting more every day."
He added that the city has around 830 business licenses that they will be able to refund through this program.
For more information on the city’s rebate program, visit https://www.como.gov/finance/business-rebate-program/
