April 9, 2020
Dear Ironwood Business Owners,
Over the last 24 hours we have been getting a lot of updates regarding the two main SBA Loan programs. The thing that is most clear is that the needs of our small businesses far exceeds the resources from State and Federal agencies. There are discussions at the federal level of developing additional stimulus packages to help businesses. I think it is an important time to let our representatives know how important it is to get additional resources to small businesses. I would encourage everyone to contact our representatives.
Richard Rossway (Bergman): Richard.Rossway@mail.house.gov
Katelyn Rader (Peters): Katelyn_Rader@peters.senate.gov
Jay Gage (Stabenow): jay_gage@stabenow.senate.gov
Here is an update regarding the two main SBA Loans.
Important message regarding your loan amount: Our nation’s small businesses and private, nonprofit organizations are facing an unprecedented economic disruption due to the COVID-19 outbreak. The SBA is experiencing a large volume of applications for the Economic Injury Disaster Loan. Due to current appropriations for this program, the SBA will make initial loan disbursements for two months of working capital up to a maximum of $15,000 per applicant. This is in addition to the Advance of up to $10,000 each small business and non-profit is eligible to receive. By doing this, the SBA will ensure it is supporting the greatest number of applicants during this difficult time.
Additional options available to help small businesses, include the recently launched Paycheck Protection Program for payroll costs. The Paycheck Protection Program offers loans of up to $10 million at a 1% interest rate. These loans mature in two years, but the amount of the loan used for payroll and certain operating expenses in the first 8 weeks after loan disbursement may be forgiven if the business uses a minimum of 75% of the loan for payroll. Additional resources, such as information on debt relief and express bridge loans can be found at www.sba.gov/coronavirus.
As a reminder, Economic Injury Disaster Loans can be accessed through the SBA website at https://disasterloan.sba.gov/ela/
If you are interested in the Paycheck Protection Program please contact your local certified lender.
As always, if you have any questions you are welcome to contact me by email or phone at bergmant@cityofironwood.org or at 906-285-9013.
Take care everyone,
Thomas Bergman
Community Development Director
City of Ironwood
213 S. Marquette Street
Ironwood, MI 49938
906-932-5050 ext. 126
www.cityofironwood.org