Business Owners Throw Support Behind Franchot's Plan To Offer $500M In Relief
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (WJZ) -- A group of local entrepreneurs on Thursday threw their support Comptroller Peter Franchot's plan to use a portion of the state's budget surplus to provide $500 million in small business relief.
Over the course of the pandemic, Maryland has lost an estimated 40,000 small businesses, Franchot's office said, and that number could only grow.
The businesses that did manage to survive have dealt with numerous issues like staffing shortages and supply-chain delays, the comptroller said.
"It's just an unbelievable bunch of economic consequences following a public health calamity," Franchot said during a virtual press briefing.
Craig Martin, owner of The QG, a full-service department store in Baltimore with a barber shop, spa, cigar lounge, clothier, speakeasy and restaurant, said sales declined by 70% in 2020. Since then, business has only improved slightly and is down 40% compared to pre-pandemic levels.
"As new restrictions and variants are still here, our business is on the verge of life support," he said.
Martin said been forced to lay off more than half of his 48 full-time employees.
Marigot Miller, co-owner of Abbey Burger Bistro, which has three locations in Baltimore City and another in Havre de Grace, said she's worked hard over the last two years without making much progress. Her family decided to curb the Ocean City location of their restaurant due to the pandemic.
"I don't want to lose this business for our family, for the Abbey family or for the community," Miller said. "But it's definitely hard."
Lawmakers returned to Annapolis last month tasked with figuring out how to spend the state's $4.5 billion budget surplus.
Under Franchot's plan, small businesses, especially those shut out of federal and state aid, would receive direct financial assistance. The comptroller's office, which collects taxes, has records of all the businesses in the state, and Franchot said he could deliver assistance within 24 hours if the funds were approved by the Maryland General Assembly and the governor.
"It needs to be immediate. It needs to target small businesses and hard-hit industries, particularly minority-owned and women-owned entities," he said.
Franchot is a Democratic candidate for governor in the upcoming election.
