The Payroll Protection Program (PPP) has pumped at least $28 million into 450 Wood County businesses and up to $47.5 million.

The PPP was part of the stimulus package approved by Congress during the COVID-19 pandemic response to try to assist small businesses during government-ordered curtailments and shutdowns.

The loans, through the Small Business Administration, are based on 2.5 times monthly payroll and range up to $10 million.

They can be forgiven if the funds are spent primarily on payroll and for expenses such as leases, utilities and mortgage interest.

The SBA released information on the program July 6. It split the loans into two categories, above and below $150,000.

For the loans below $150,000, the businesses are not named, but the exact amount is listed along with city/ZIP code and the business category.

The loans above $150,000 do list the businesses but give a range rather than an amount. The categories include $150,000 to $350,000; $350,000 to $1 million; $1 million to $2 million; $2 million to $5 million; and $5 million to $10 million.

So the value of those loans for the 36 county businesses that received them ranges from $14.5 million to $33.15 million.

The 414 smaller businesses received loans totaling $13,425,881 for an average of $32,826.

Only one loan to a Wood County business was for more than $2 million, with five loans in the $1 million to $2 million range.

Two banks that did the bulk of the loans in Wood County are City National Bank and Mineola Community Bank.

Ryan James, president of the Mineola branch of City National Bank (CNB), said the bank processed almost 500 PPP loans throughout its operating area, and more than 400 of those were considered smaller loans – under $150,000.

Those loans in some cases kept businesses from closing, he said.

“It was a tremendous help for a lot of our small businesses,” he said.

From the bank’s stand point, he said it was a lot of late nights and long hours. For about six weeks it was 80-hour weeks.

As an example, after the first round of loans was quickly consumed, the second round was announced with the possibility that it could be gone in two to four days.

James said he reported to work at 8 a.m. that Monday and did not get a break until after lunch on Tuesday. And there was a 6-8 member processing team involved.

But those predictions did not play out, and there is still money available for round two.

James explained that CNB and many other banks have shied away from recent loans because the guidance from the SBA keeps changing, and one change in particular upped the terms of the “forgivable” loans from 24 months to 60 months.

James explained the banks actually fronted the money and are awaiting reimbursement from SBA.

Banks are also the ones that will determine whether and how much of the loans are forgivable and then report that to SBA.

But as of Monday the banks still don’t have a process from SBA in place for doing that.

An effort is underway to lobby the federal government to make all loans under $150,000 automatically forgivable.

It would save a lot of time and paperwork, he explained.

James said the bank has received numerous letters from customers thanking them for their work on the loans.

Jim Herlocker, president of Mineola Community Bank (MCB), echoed many of the same sentiments.

“It saved a lot of businesses,” he said. “Every dollar helped every business.”

MCB first had to become an SBA-approved lender, which delayed getting applications processed about three weeks.

Fortunately the bank was able to get all its customers funded in the second round. Herlocker estimated the bank did more than 100 loans worth $5.5 million.

He agreed that the actual process was terrible and took a lot of time and work.

The concerns now are how the banks will be repaid and hoping that the forgiveness process can be simplified.

In addition, MCB implemented a local program with $100,000, matched by economic development corporations, that assisted local businesses in five communities.

In Mineola 142 businesses received PPP loans worth at least $7.1 million and as much as $12.4 million.

Some 131 loans were $150,000 or less totaling $3,658,225. The 11 larger loans are worth from $3.5 million to $8.75 million.

In Quitman 75 businesses received from just over $4 million to as much as $6.9 million. The 68 smaller loans total $1,875,657.

So far 31 businesses in Alba received at least $1 million and up to $1.2 million. Only one was for more than $150,000 with 30 smaller businesses receiving $851,520.

In Yantis 32 businesses received $1,352,023 in aid – none over $150,000.

Hawkins had 48 smaller businesses and six larger ones receive almost $4.2 million and up to just under $6 million. The smaller businesses received $1,597,627 and the six larger ones a range from $2.6 million to $4.4 million.

Winnsboro had 103 small and 13 large businesses qualify for a total of at least $10.2 million and up to $18.5 million.

The smaller businesses shared $4,090,829 with the larger ones receiving between $6.1 million-$14.45 million.

The program deadline has been extended to Aug. 8 as long as the funds hold out.