More than three dozen Delaware companies received federal loans that they said would enable them to retain at least 250 jobs each for at least eight weeks, according to data released Monday by the U.S. Small Business Administration on its Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).
Leading those 37 companies were GT USA Wilmington (500 jobs saved), which manages the Port of Wilmington; Iron Hill Brewery (500); Nixon Uniform Service (499); First State Orthopaedics (486); Community Systems Inc. (479), which describes itself as a four-state family of non-profit, tax-exempt corporations whose mission is “helping persons with disabilities to find happiness;” and the Boys and Girls Club of Delaware (462). In total, the largest loan recipients in the state reported that the funds would sustain more than 89,000 jobs.
Community Systems obtained its PPP loan to support group homes in Delaware and Virginia. The organization, which employs 280 in Delaware, was able to keep everyone on payroll over the past three months.
The PPP loan “gave us three months to keep people safe,” said President and CEO Janet Butler, who said none of her employees or clients passed away and very few tested positive for the virus. “The money is just about to run out. We’ve used lots of overtime and we’ll be able to address our staffing needs with the resources we have by the end of July. I think we were able to save a lot of lives by changing the way we staff.”
The SBA released redacted PPP data Monday after being sued by media companies that argued that it was defying the Freedom of Information Act by declining to make the info available. The loan program was perhaps the Trump administration’s most prominent response to the economic havoc wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic. It allowed companies to apply for forgivable loans worth up to eight weeks of payroll costs.
After an initial onslaught of applications emptied $349 billion in loans in less than two weeks, a second congressional appropriation of $310 billion has been slow to be claimed. That’s because business owners fretted over the terms of the program and its forgiveness calculation as well as the lingering effects of the pandemic. As of June 30, about $130 billion remained in the second round of funds.
With the program set to expire at the end of June, the Senate approved an extension of the PPP until Aug. 8. The terms have also been made more favorable for businesses, allowing them to spend the loan over 24 weeks rather than the initial eight, and lowering the threshold for spending on payroll from 75% to 60%.
The most-detailed data identifies 660,000 small businesses and nonprofits organizations that received at least $150,000 in funding since the program’s launch in early April as well as the number of jobs supported by the loan. It did not include each loan’s value, but instead provided a range.
A dozen Delaware companies were approved for the highest range of $5 million to $10 million, the program’s max. They are Crystal Steel Fabricators in Delmar; Ensinger Industries in Wilmington; First State Orthopaedics in Newark; GT USA Wilmington in Wilmington; I.D. Griffith in Wilmington; Iron Hill Brewery in Wilmington; M. Davis & Sons in Wilmington; Metal Masters Food Service Equipment Co. in Clayton; Nixon Uniform Service in New Castle; QPS Holdings in Newark; Sobieski Consolidated in Newark; and United Electric Supply in New Castle.
In total, 229 Delaware companies received loans worth at least $1 million. Of that number, 25 either left the jobs preserved box blank or said zero.
So far, the detailed data released includes information for only 15% of all 4.9 million loans issued. Other info released Monday on those receiving $150,000 or less – likely to be most sole proprietors and independent contractors – did not include the name of the recipient. That data was aggregated only by zip code, industry, and business type.
The more specific data for approved loans above $150,000 includes 2,074 Delaware companies. In total, 12,288 Delaware companies have received PPP loans totaling $1.48 billion as of June 27, according to the SBA.
Fourteen lenders funded the loans for the 37 largest borrowers, led by WSFS Bank (12); M&T Bank (7); and PNC Bank (5).
Among the total U.S. companies identified in the data release, some 3,037 said the federal relief would support at least 500 jobs. Overall, the funds supported 31.5 million jobs at employers representing a cross section of the American economy, with recipients ranging from hospitals to hair salons to restaurants and technology firms, according to the SBA.
“We are striking the appropriate balance of providing transparency, while protecting the payroll and personal income information of small businesses, sole proprietors, and independent contractors,” said Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin in a June 19 press release.
By Jacob Owens and Peter Osborne
