COLUMBUS, Ind. — A total of 145 companies in Columbus received loans of at least $150,000 from a government program intended to support the economy as states shut down in April to contain the viral outbreak, according to data released by the Treasury Department on Monday.
The Treasury identified just a fraction of the total borrowers, naming only those companies that got more than $150,000 and only releasing dollar ranges for the loan amounts, rather than exact figures. Those firms made up less than 15% of the nearly 5 million small companies that received loans.
In Columbus, 17 companies received at least $1 million in loans, including LHP Software LLC, which received between $5 million and $10 million, according to the Treasury data.
A total of six companies — Dunlap & Company Inc., Force Construction Company Inc., PMG Indiana, Richardson Molding LLC, Rightway Fasteners Inc. and Taylor Brothers Construction — received between $2 million and $5 million.
An additional 10 companies received between $1 million and $2 million, including Ball Management Group Inc., Capco LLC, Estep & Company Inc., Kenny Glass, Our Hospice of Southern Indiana, Precision Tools Service Inc. SIHO Holdings Inc., Sunright American Inc., Vernet US Corporation and AIM Media Indiana LLC, which owns The Republic.
Nationwide, the recipients of the loans employed 51 million people before the pandemic began, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said, or about 85% of all workers at companies with fewer than 500 employees, according to The Associated Press.
Not all of those jobs were saved. The government won’t know how many were until companies apply to have the loans forgiven, a process that is just beginning.
The average loan amount for the entire program was $107,000, the Treasury Department said in a broad summary of the program. The government handed out $521 billion through the Paycheck Protection Program, a crucial piece of the government’s $2 trillion rescue package. The loans can be forgiven if the businesses mostly use the money to continue paying their workers. The program initially was set to expire June 30 but was extended last week to Aug. 8.
For more on this story, including a list of the entire 145, check back at therepublic.com. The full story will appear in print in Tuesday’s edition.
