HARTFORD — For the most part, small businesses in Connecticut receiving state financial aid to create jobs are not permitted to fail.
The Department of Economic and Community Development says 25 of the 1,284 small businesses receiving loans and grants since 2012 have gone out of business. That’s fewer than 2 percent.
Commissioner Catherine Smith says the agency uses a “watch list” of companies that are slow to repay loans or experience cash flow problems. So far, the agency has restructured 44 small business agreements.
She says the agency will change the terms, or reduce the payments to help companies that are still struggling despite state aid.
Republican state Sen. Rob Kane questions the effectiveness of the program if the state can continually assist companies that might otherwise fail.
