Signed into law in March 2020, the federal Paycheck Protection Program had major reach in Shasta County.
The program created as part of the CARES Act provided forgivable, low-interest loans to help businesses and nonprofits keep paying their workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. From early 2020 through mid-2021, pandemic-related health restrictions, business shutdowns and general uncertainty upended the local and national economies.
Under the loan forgiveness program, borrowers could receive full or partial forgiveness on their federal loans if their employee counts and wages stayed stable, according to the Small Business Administration.
Thousands of PPP loans were approved for Shasta County companies and nonprofits before the federal government ended the program in May 2021.
A total of 4,365 loans totalling just under $387 million were approved in Shasta County. The largest loans went to major employers, who typically reported having at least 400 workers and using the loan funds to cover payroll, rent and utilities.
The vast majority of those loans — all but 198 — were forgiven and therefore did not need to be paid back, government statistics showed. All told, loans worth about $383.5 million were forgiven by the government.
Loan amounts granted ranged from less than $10,000 to more than $1 million. The bulk of the PPP loan amounts fell in the range of $25,000 to $100,000.
The largest Shasta County loan under the federal program went to Bear Tracks Holdings, LLC, the former owner of the Black Bear Restaurant chain. Bear Tracks Holdings received $9.1 million in loan forgiveness, the largest in Shasta County, according to the SBA’s database.The second-largest recipient was North State Grocery, Inc. The owner of Holiday Market foodstores received $6.5 million in loan forgiveness.Coming in third was Shasta Community Health Center in Redding. The nonprofit health provider received $6.4 million in loan forgiveness, the database showed.
Other major local loan forgiveness recipients in Shasta County included Win-River Casino and Resort ($4.7 million), Simpson University (two loans totalling $3.99 million), auto dealership Crown Motors, LLC ($2.0 million) and Hill Country Community Clinic ($1.5 million).
In all, the top five Shasta County industries approved to receive PPP loans were:
The largest dollar amount of loans forgiven were made to businesses in:
Michele Chandler covers public safety, reports on trials in Shasta County Superior Court, writes about restaurants and handles whatever else comes up for the Redding Record Searchlight/USA Today Network. Accepts story tips at 530-338-7753 and at mrchandler@gannett.com. Please support our entire newsroom’s commitment to public service journalism by subscribing today.
This article originally appeared on Redding Record Searchlight: Millions in Redding area Paycheck Protection loans forgiven
Reporting by Michele Chandler, Redding Record Searchlight / Redding Record Searchlight
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