Santa Clara County Supervisors will consider waiving environmental health permit fees for one year for small businesses impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Roughly 2,600 small restaurants are currently inactive since the beginning of the pandemic and, according to Santa Clara county data, 1,000 have closed permanently. Santa Clara County Supervisor Susan Ellenberg said temporary permit applications are down 75% since the start of the pandemic.
"Each of these businesses represents families and livelihoods and, worse, these numbers represent the destruction of lifetimes of hard work," she explained.
Licenses like this one won't cost small businesses what they used to.Margie Shafer/KCBS Radio
Ellenberg and Supervisor Cindy Chavez are proposing the one-time waiver for environmental and health fees aimed at the smallest, most-impacted businesses.
"The county would transfer $5.5 million from contingency reserves to the Department of Environmental Health to cover these one-time costs," she said.
Of course, inspections are still required.
Personal care service businesses, and gyms would also be included in the county's waiver program.
