Pennsylvania’s Bucks County is acting to help local tourism and hospitality companies that have been hardest-hit by the ongoing coronavirus crisis. The Bucks County Redevelopment Authority announced a “rapid response loan program” that will use gaming revenue taxes collected from the local Parx Casino to provide emergency zero-interest loans to eligible tourism and hospitality companies within the county.
The agency has set aside $600,000 from the revenues collected as a Parx host community to provide loans to companies in the Lower Bucks County communities of Bensalem, Bristol borough and township, Hulmeville, Langhorne, Langhorne Manor, Lower Southampton, Middletown and Penndel.
Businesses can apply for loans of up to $8,000 under the program, Bucks County Commissioner Bob Harvie told the Bucks County Courier Times. The plan is to process loans within five business days from application.
“We know the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic will be very serious and that it has the potential to ruin the hard work and dreams of business owners and their employees in Bucks County,” Harvie told the Courier Times. “As the county commissioners continue to develop other economic assistance initiatives, we hope this loan program we are launching with the redevelopment authority can provide some immediate relief.
“This program is a great example of how the redevelopment authority can quickly and efficiently partner with county government,” Schafer said. “I’m extremely proud of the work that has been done by redevelopment authority staff, along with county staff, for creating and implementing this program in less than a week.”
“These critical funds will help businesses survive and sustain while we work to defeat the coronavirus,” state Senator Tommy Tomlinson of Bensalem (where Parx is located) told the newspaper.
