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The Covington Board of Commissioners and Department of Economic Development discussed several small business incentives for a variety of firms throughout the city at their meeting Tuesday night. All of them were placed on the consent agenda for next week’s meeting, meaning they will likely pass.
Covington’s small business incentive program aims to attract and retain small businesses in the city. They fall into a handful of main categories: rent subsidies, facade grants, historic signage assistance and job development incentives.
Most of the incentives discussed at Tuesday’s meeting were rent subsidies, which aim to help small businesses get on their feet by paying a portion of the business’s rent (in the form of a reimbursement) over the course of the year. To qualify, a business must sign at least a two-year lease with a landlord and create the equivalent of at least one full-time job. Special consideration is given to woman, minority and veteran-owned businesses.
The following businesses are slated to receive $500 monthly rent subsidies in:
- Scout Yonder, a digital e-commerce marketing firm
- The Point/Arc & Zels Pretzels, a nonprofit that helps train people with disabilities in work skills. Zels Pretzels is one of the group’s enterprise projects; it makes pretzels.
- Safewave Technology Corporation, which provides app-based safety and emergency equipment for deaf people, such as emergency smart-watches
- F & Goode Desserts, a bakery that already provides desserts for several coffee shops in the Northern Kentucky and the Greater Cincinnati region
- Live Forever Die Whenever, a country-western clothing and accessory brand
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The remaining two incentives are a $6,000 forgivable facade loan to THIRTY9, a real-estate developer, to refurbish a property on 409 Lehmer Street; and a $7,500 forgivable loan to Fessler Properties to restore an old neon Wiedmann Fine Beer sign, which will eventually be displayed at Herb & Thelma’s Tavern on Pike Street.
The commission will cast official votes on the incentives at their next meeting on Tuesday, May 14 at 6 p.m. at Covington City Hall on Pike Street.
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