The U.S. Small Business Administration adds six more counties to the Presidential Public Assistance disaster declaration due to the severe storms and flooding that began on Oct. 1, 2015 in South Carolina.
The SBA disaster declaration now covers the PNPs located in Dillon, Abbeville, Aiken, Anderson, Bamberg, Berkeley, Calhoun, Charleston, Chesterfield, Clarendon, Colleton, Darlington, Dorchester, Fairfield, Florence, Horry, Georgetown, Greenwood, Kershaw, Laurens, Lee, Lexington, McCormick, Marion, Newberry, Orangeburg, Richland, Saluda, Sumter and Williamsburg counties in South Carolina are eligible to apply to SBA.
Examples of eligible non-critical PNP organizations include, but are not limited to, food kitchens, homeless shelters, museums, libraries, community centers, schools and colleges.
“PNP organizations are urged to contact their County’s Emergency Manager to obtain information about local briefings. For a complete list of County Emergency Managers go to http://www.scemd.org/. At the meeting, PNP representatives will need to provide information about their organization,” said Frank Skaggs, director of SBA Field Operations Center East in Atlanta.
The information will be used to submit a Request for Public Assistance which FEMA uses to determine if the PNP provides an essential governmental service and meets the definition of a “critical facility.” Based upon that conclusion, FEMA may provide the PNP with a Public Assistance reimbursement grant for their eligible costs or refer the PNP to SBA for disaster loan assistance.
PNP organizations may borrow up to $2 million to repair or replace damaged or destroyed real estate, machinery and equipment, inventory and other business assets. The interest rate is 2.625 percent with terms up to 30 years.
Applicants may be eligible for a loan amount increase up to 20 percent of their physical damages, as verified by the SBA, to make improvements that help prevent the risk of future property damage caused by a similar disaster.
The SBA also offers Economic Injury Disaster Loans to help meet working capital needs, such as ongoing operating expenses to PNP organizations. Economic Injury Disaster Loan assistance is available regardless of whether the organization suffered any physical property damage.
Applicants may apply online using the Electronic Loan Application via SBA’s secure website at https://disasterloan.sba.gov/ela.
Disaster loan information and application forms may also be obtained by calling the SBA’s Customer Service Center at 800-659-2955 (800-877-8339 for the deaf and hard-of-hearing) or by sending an email to disastercustomerservice@sba.gov.
Loan applications can be downloaded from the SBA’s website at www.sba.gov/disaster. Completed applications should be mailed to: U.S. Small Business Administration, Processing and Disbursement Center, 14925 Kingsport Road, Fort Worth, TX 76155. The filing deadline to return applications for physical property damage is Dec. 14, 2015. The deadline to return economic injury applications is July 14, 2016.
