SBA Opens Santa Rosa Center For Businesses Affected By Fires

SONOMA COUNTY, CA — The U.S. Small Business Administration is opening a recovery center in Santa Rosa on Thursday for businesses that have been impacted by the wildfires in October. The services will be free and no appointment is necessary. The agency's Santa Rosa Recovery Center is located at 141 Stony Circle, Suite 155. It will open 9 a.m. Thursday and business hours will be 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Small Business Administration customer service representatives will explain how a SBA disaster loan can help finance their recovery, explain the application process and help business owners complete an electronic loan application.

Agency spokesman Bill Koontz said half of the applications it has received in Santa Rosa were for economic injury suffered by companies forced out of business.

"That's rare," Koontz said.

Small businesses that sustained physical damage must file a loan application by Dec. 11. Businesses that had economic damage only have until July 12, 2018, to file a loan application, Koontz said.

Businesses are not obligated to take advantage of a disaster loan, but if a business is offered a SBA loan they have six months to say they don't want it, Koontz said.

Businesses of any size and private, nonprofit organizations may borrow up to $2 million to repair or replace damaged or destroyed real estate, machinery and equipment, inventory and other business assets. The loans cover losses not fully recovered by insurance or other recoveries.

By Bay City News Service

Photo: A sign sits outside the Domaine Carneros Winery, Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2017, in Santa Rosa, Calif. A massive wildfire swept through the area destroying thousands of housing and business and taking the lives of more than two dozen people. (Rich Pedroncelli/Associated Press)