Small businesses in need have options
While many small businesses in the Capital Region have been shut out so far from the federal government’s nearly $800 billion Paycheck Protection Program through the U.S. Small Business Administration, one local land developer says he was successful — and he says it was all due to the hard work of his local bank.
MJ Properties owner Mark Rekucki says he was able to secure a $100,000 PPP loan through Adirondack Trust Co. of Saratoga Springs.
“Adirondack Trust handled my loan on the first round and did an amazing job,” Rekucki told the Times Union on Friday. “They are a small bank that provides great customer service. They did over 900 loans with a very small staff and worked 14 straight days to get as many loans out before the first round dried up. Adirondack did their homework and hit the ground running before the first due date was even set in place. An amazing job by some amazing people and they deserve credit for keeping companies like mine up and running.”
Small business owners are eligible to apply for PPP loans through their banks and the SBA. The loans can be for 2.5 times their average monthly payroll and must be used to sustain 75 percent of their payroll for eight weeks to be forgiven. The loans are designed to get small businesses through the government-mandated business shutdown measures to combat the coronavirus pandemic.
Other local banks are also approving PPP loans. Pioneer Bank of Colonie says that it received 526 PPP applications seeking a total of $70 million through the first two rounds, and that it closed and funded 206 of those during the first round and approved 320 loans in the first two days of the second round.
Keybank, the region’s largest bank, declined comment when asked about its PPP loan applications by the Times Union.
Those small businesses that have not been able to get PPP loans through local banks can still turn to local charities and bank foundations for help.
The nonprofit Community Loan Fund in Albany decided to take matters into its own hands recently by creating what’s known as the COVID-19 small business continuity grant program, which will provide grants of up to $20,000 to small business owners to pay for things like payroll and rent that the PPP otherwise would have covered.
The fund’s executive director, Linda Macfarlane, is lining up as much $3 million for the fund, paid for by local philanthropic foundations run by the Golub family that owns Price Chopper, and by the Capital Region Chamber, Berkshire Bank, Citizens Bank and Keybank. The city of Albany is also participating now in the funding. Macfarlane said the fund will especially help minority- and women-owned businesses of less than 50 employees in urban neighborhoods that don’t have strong banking relationships to get PPP loans.
“This pandemic has directly impacted our entire community,” said Neil Golub, who runs the Neil and Jane Golub Foundation named also for his late wife Jane, which supported the grant program. “Maintaining the strength of our small business community through this health and economic crisis will help ensure the Capital Region’s sustainability now and over the long term.”