Victoria had the chance to jump on a small business loan program that could have provided some relief to businesses in the Crossroads on Tuesday, but in the end, the council voted down the opportunity by a 4-3 vote.

The Victoria Advocate shared the outcome on Tuesday evening in a great write up by Morgan Theophil. Victoria had a chance to partner with LiftFund, a nonprofit that would have provided access to interest-free loans. The city wasn't exactly excited about using taxpayer funds to cover the loans and was one of the main reasons the vote did not pass.

Some of the specifics about the program that concerned council members was that with LiftFund, only businesses in operation prior to August would qualify for assistance. Any business that wanted to get funding was not required to have any collateral. This worried the city as they still have streets and health care to take care of. Councilmembers said they wanted to be able to see that established businesses who qualify are actually paying their taxes before allowing them a 0% interest loan made up with taxpayer funds. We can certainly see the risk that concerned the city council.

Mayor Rawley McCoy voted in favor of the program according to The Advocate. The other yes votes came from members Mark Loffgren and Josephine Soliz. McCoy says the council is headed back to the drawing board to find more answers.

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