Sachse businesses in Dallas County have another opportunity to get some funding.

Council voted 5-2 to participate in the second round of the county’s Emergency Business Assistance Program (EBAP). In the first round, $5 million was set aside for the program, which was a lottery-based system – qualifying businesses could apply, and a third-party company made random selections of those who were eligible.

“The county recently announced an additional $30 million for a second round of funding opportunity,” Strategic Services Manager Lauren Rose explained. “Within the second round, they’ve extended an opportunity for cities to opt in and invest a portion of their CARES Act funding in businesses that weren’t selected [in the first round].”

If selected, businesses can receive up to $50,000.

Five Sachse companies got funding originally. To qualify, a business must be located in Dallas County but not in the city of Dallas, experienced a loss of at least 25 percent in income since March 1, and be current in county and local tax payments.

Sachse will invest $100,000 of its own CARES Act funding in order to participate. The two votes against participation came from Brett Franks and Jeff Bickerstaff.

The latter was hesitant to invest money when Sachse businesses may not even be chosen in the lottery; he preferred to keep the money in case the pandemic worsens. Franks thought that the Sachse Economic Development Corporation (EDC)’s grant program, which wrapped up last month, should be sufficient in helping local companies.

In other business, City Manager Gina Nash noted that Plexiglass barriers have been installed around the city municipal complex, and that a team is working on finding the best ways to use CARES Act funding from both Collin and Dallas Counties.

Three agreements regarding portions of The Station were approved, as was a slight boundary adjustment on the Sachse-Murphy border so that one of Sachse’s lift stations falls in city limits.

A more detailed story will be in our July 30 issue.

By Morgan Howard • [email protected]