PENDLETON — A proposed grant program that could provide Pendleton restaurants with a series of grants to help them stay open during the COVID-19 shutdowns now has a name.

And a price tag.

Following up on a Jan. 12 presentation with Pendleton Economic Development Director Steve Chrisman, Cheri Rosenberg, the CEO of the Pendleton Chamber of Commerce, returned to city council chambers on Tuesday, Jan. 19, with more details on what’s now being called the “Save Our Amazing Restaurants” relief program. Under the proposal, the city and its urban renewal district would spend $400,000 for the program.

The program’s proponents argue that it wouldn’t just save a vital part of Pendleton’s business and tourism community, but also avoid a significant drop in property tax revenue from the empty storefronts that would pop up if restaurants closed down permanently.

“That may seem like a lot of money to some, but the long-term costs of failing to act now, in this unprecedented time of need, will almost assuredly dwarf that figure over the next decade,” a slide from Rosenberg and Chrisman’s slideshow states.

The program would provide eligible restaurants with a monthly grant of up to $5,000 for four months. If a restaurant can’t stay open during a lockdown, the grant would turn into a loan that would be forgiven for each month it stays open after reopening. Should a restaurant reopen before the four-month period is up, they would be eligible for an additional month to help with reopening.

The majority of the restaurants for the program are inside the urban renewal district, meaning the Pendleton Development Commission can use urban renewal funds for the program. But the proposal also calls for using money from the city’s community development fund to offer grants to seven restaurants outside the district.

“If this isn’t the answer, we’ll just keep working,” Rosenberg said, calling the grant program “a Band-Aid on a gunshot wound.”

Five thousand dollars is unlikely to cover all the monthly expenses of most Pendleton restaurants, but a couple of longtime restaurateurs still saw a benefit to the program.

Since the shutdown, Prodigal Son Brewery & Pub has dramatically scaled back its operations, now mostly operating as a growler filling station while it waits for the state’s COVID-19 restrictions to lift. Prodigal Son co-owner Tim Guenther said that even if the state began to loosen restrictions, he would want to wait until enough were lifted that reopening would make financial sense.

Guenther said the grant program would help Prodigal Son pay the bills on the fixed costs they need to be able to meet.

Addison Schulberg, a manager at the Great Pacific Wine & Coffee Co., said his restaurant isn’t pushing for a full reopening, especially considering the health risks of gathering crowds of people together in an indoor space during the pandemic.

But he added that Great Pacific is still making an effort to pay its staff as much as possible despite a cut in hours. Other costs, like packaging, have gone up as Great Pacific processes more takeout orders.

Schulberg said the money would go toward making long-term improvements that would help the restaurant come back stronger once it reopened.

Guenther is also looking into using the down time for improvements like making some building renovations and revamping the menu.

The members of the council didn’t seem to have any major objections to the program. Councilor Kevin Martin, the chairman of the development commission, said the commission would hold a special meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 26, instead of workshop, meaning the grant program could be approved as soon as Jan. 26.