How It’s Going With BEGAP
Thanks to everyone who’s had extra patience with the CVEDC office in September, we have been working hard to help people whose businesses and farms were flood impacted apply to the BEGAP grant. NVDA and Do North Coworking hosted us last week to help people apply to BEGAP.
Photo credit: Shannon Alexander
We loved spending time in both St. Johnsbury and Lyndon! Do North Coworking is such a great coworking space. We liked how bright and spacious and inviting it was. The perfect space to get your mind clear and focus to get something done. We also really loved visiting St. J’s charming downtown which has so many new businesses recently opened on its beautiful historic downtown streets.
Photo credit: Shannon Alexander
CVEDC is the State of Vermont’s technical assistance partner for this grant. We saw so much flooding in our region last year that we assisted with hundreds of BEGAP applications, and we are happy to help if you’d like it. You can request support with your application here.
Thank you to everyone we met with in the Northeast Kingdom over the last several days. It takes a lot from a person to experience something like these floods along with everything else your life brought along in the last few months, dig up your taxes and insurance, and go battle a Xerox machine together with a stranger to get all those documents scanned. You have made it a lot more fun.
Photo credit: Shannon Alexander
If you’re thinking about applying but aren’t sure, here are a few things we’ve noticed:
How long will it take?
If you have all of the required documents ready electronically and are confident about providing specific types of insurance and tax documents, the process will take you about 20-30 minutes.
The three required documents that may take the longest to put together are your most recently filed taxes, your insurance information, and your costs. We recommend people look for these items before they start to apply and at least start to put them together.
After you find everything you need, it takes us about 1 hour to complete an application together. We go through all your documents and make sure they seem complete and correct and if you only have physical copies, we’ll scan them. If we have to scan a lot of pages or receipts this will take us more like two hours.
Can I just ask one question?
Yes, submit the question here. We are usually able to answer same day.
Do I really need my entire taxes?
Yup.
I was flooded in 2024 and don’t know what it’s going to cost.
Talk to us about what’s going on, request an appointment here. We can help you connect with local contractors, talk to contractors, or discuss other ways of estimating your costs.
Is livestock feed eligible?
Yes, and most of the types of losses farms experienced are eligible. We have a simple form you can ask us for that helps you calculate typical types of farm losses. Just email us and ask for it: info@centralvermont.org
If I own two different companies, one for my business and one that owns my building (like an LLC), do I do one application or two?
If you have an LLC that owns your building and other businesses occupy that building, each separate business entity should complete its own BEGAP application. Make sure you’re keeping just the building expenses to the building’s application, and just the business’s expenses (nothing for the building) on any tenant business applications if you also own those businesses.
As a landlord of a commercial building, should I complete an application for my tenants?
No, your tenant should do their own application, even if you are family. Each application needs to be done only by the business owner.
Who is responsible, tenant or landlord?
If you and your tenant have a lease in place, the lease probably describes the landlord’s and tenant’s different responsibilities. In most leases we see, the landlord is responsible for the floors, walls, HVAC and plumbing and the tenant is responsible for the paint, fixtures, shelving, and the furniture and inventory. Many restaurants are rented with as is equipment that is not the landlord’s responsibility to fix if it is destroyed.
I’m frustrated with my insurance company!
If you haven’t heard back from your insurance company yet on July 2024 flooding at all, it has been too long. You should let us know so we can discuss how to help get your claim escalated and responded to.
Please know that unfortunately, a lot of flood damage is not covered by many different types of insurance policies. If you were denied a claim through your business or property insurance for this flood damage, it’s pretty common for many of those policies.