Small Business Grants (Round 2) – $82m for 2020/21

UPDATE: On 24 November 2020, the South Australia Premier announced that Small Business Grants would be extended until the end of February 2021.

As part of the State Budget 2020/21, additional small business support has been funded as a result of COVID-19.

The Small Business Grant program provides support to South Australian small businesses that have been highly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The program will provide a second round of $10,000 grants to small businesses and not-for-profits which remain adversely impacted by coronavirus. The program also introduces $3,000 grants for owner operated small businesses conducted from a commercial premises that do not employ staff.

Click here for more information.

What assistance can YOU get during the coronavirus crisis?

We understand our residents and businesses may be experiencing financial hardship as a result of the effects of the coronavirus outbreak across Australia. If you are experiencing financial hardship due to COVID-19, please give us a call to discuss how we can support you.

As a result of the current public health emergency affecting Australian residents, at their Ordinary Meeting of 20 April 2020, Council resolved (CNC338/19-20) to assist the Township’s residents by providing support to those suffering hardship as a direct result of the COVID-19 health emergency:

• The deferment of rate payments for the fourth quarter in the 2019/ 2020 financial year until December 2020. No fines or interest will be applied from 1 April 2020 to 31 December 2020;
• Ratepayers can arrange to pay their rates weekly, fortnightly or monthly, based on an amount that suits their budget. No fines or interest will be applied from 1 April 2020 to 31 December 2020, or for the length of the payment arrangement, whilst payments are being met;
• Ratepayers experiencing significant financial hardship due to loss of income as a direct result of COVID-19, may be eligible to defer their rates through a postponement until 30 June 2022.

Please see below for key funding opportunities our ratepayers may be eligible for from the COVID-19 stimulus packages. We will continue to share options for assistance in order to support your family and your business, and we will update this site with any new or updated information as it is announced.

For further details on the Federal Government stimulus package, visit treasury.gov.au/coronavirus. For information on business assistance, call the Australian Government Business Hotline on 13 28 46 or visit business.sa.gov.au/COVID-19-business-information-and-support.

On 30 March 2020, the Federal Government announced a $130 billion third tier of its economic stimulus plan to help keep Australians in jobs. This is on top of its part two $66 billion announcement and the part one $17.6 billion stimulus package release. But what does this mean for our residents and businesses?

Payments to households

• $550 per fortnight for existing and new recipients of the JobSeeker Payment, Youth Allowance, Parenting Payment, Farm Household Allowance and Special Benefit;
• $750 additional payment to social security, veteran income support recipients and eligible concession card holders. The first $750 payment will be made from 31 March 2020 and the second $750 payment will be made from 13 July 2020;
• Up to $10,000 of early access to superannuation in 2019-20 and a further $10,000 in 2020-21.

Employer cash flow

• $1,500 per fortnight per employee JobKeeper payments for up to six months;
• $21,000 reimbursement for small businesses per eligible apprentice or trainee;
• Up to $100,000 tax-free payments for small and medium-sized businesses with a turnover of less than $50 million per year to cover the costs of employee wages;
• $10,000 emergency cash payments for small businesses and not-for-profits that have suffered a significant loss of income or been forced to close as a result of coronavirus-related restrictions.

Business investment

• $150,000 instant asset write-off threshold. Companies with a turnover of less than $500 million have access to the instant asset write-off threshold which has been lifted from $30,000;
• 50 per cent deduction of the cost of an eligible asset for businesses with a turnover of less than $500 million.

Emergency banking measures

• 50% of new loans issued by banks to small and medium enterprises (SME) to enhance lenders’ willingness and ability to provide credit. This means banks will be ‘more willing’ to lend;
• $90 billion from the Reserve Bank and $15 billion from the Australian Government for banks to provide low-interest loans to business;
• 6-month holiday from loan repayments for business affected by the coronavirus crisis.

The Town of Walkerville recently went live with its new Grants Finder website. The database allows businesses and members of the community to search for local grants. There are several funding opportunities now available through Grants Finder in relation to COVID-19. To find out more information on submission dates and contact details, or to apply online, visit walkerville.grantguru.com.au.

To view the Town of Walkerville hardship application, click here.

For information on Council services and programs impacted by COVID-19, visit walkerville.sa.gov.au/community/latest-news/covid-19.

Promoting local business #mywalkerville

As we look to further support our businesses, we'd love to hear from you.

Have you changed your business model? Are you offering food delivery or a takeaway service? Maybe you are running online classes?

The Town of Walkerville is working hard to engage with businesses in the area. We have created a directory of those still trading during this time so we can promote this to our community. Please email us if your doors are still open for business (within complying guidelines of course). Email: walkerville@walkerville.sa.gov.au

There are a number of platforms which aim to promote you are open for business including Still Here.

You can also share what you're doing on Instagram with us @townofwalkerville using the tag #mywalkerville