The Treasury Department released the names of more than 650,000 small businesses Monday that received funding from the government Payroll Protection Program, and information from the WCPO-TV I-Team showed that the list contained 107 businesses from Highland and surrounding counties.
Businesses from Wilmington topped the local list with 30 companies, followed by 21 businesses from Hillsboro and 18 from Mt. Orab.
The listing showed that five businesses each from Greenfield and Peebles filed for PPP loans; four companies each came from Blanchester, Seaman, Winchester and Georgetown; Manchester and West Union each had three businesses; Sardinia and Ripley had two businesses each on the PPP loan list; while Lynchburg and Fayetteville each had a single company that sought government funding to survive the pandemic-caused economic lockdown.
The Treasury Department list identified just a fraction of the total borrowers and named only those companies that received more than $150,000.
Those firms made up less than 15 percent of the nearly five million small companies that received loans, the agency said, adding that the average loan amount for the entire program was around $107,000.
Handing out $521 billion, the Payroll Protection Program was a critical piece of the government’s $2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act rescue package.
The Small Business Administration hasn’t yet released any data on those companies seeking loan forgiveness, which was offered to borrowers who could prove they spent at least 60 percent of the proceeds on wages within 24 weeks of receiving a loan.
The program had an original cut-off date of June 30, but was extended last week to Saturday, Aug. 8.
A lawsuit was recently initiated by news organizations that included the Associated Press, since the names of business borrowers that were approved for loans of less than $150,000 were missing from the list.
The SBA said those names were withheld in an effort to protect the privacy of sole proprietors.
Reach Tim Colliver at 937-402-2571.
