Applications open for second round of county loans

EL CENTRO — Small businesses that have been or are continuing to be impacted by COVID-19 will have a second chance to apply for a low-interest loan from Imperial County.

The Imperial County Board of Supervisors Tuesday approved a second wave of the Business Stabilization Program, where a combined $500,000 pulled equally from the public benefit and agricultural benefit programs could be used to provide the low-interest loans up to $10,000.

A few months ago when the program first originated, 86 businesses applied for a piece of the $500,000 pie. Of those, 44 received county loans with six more that are still pending.

County CEO Tony Rouhotas Jr. said those who were not selected previously could reapply, but those who were awarded the loans with the 2 percent interest previously would not be eligible.

Some businesses declined to be included in the loan program and instead applied with the federal government’s Paycheck Protection Plan.

So far, 28 applicants have applied to the county for the second round, but officials have yet to start the ranking process to decide which will get the low-interest loans for COVID-19 expenses.

Supervisor Ryan Kelley proposed waiting another week for this to start, saying the businesses impacted now are not going away anytime soon.

If the county were able to file for an attestation in five weeks, there would still be a two-week waiting period after turning in its paperwork to the state.