March 10, 2026 • 8 mins
The Small Business Administration is offering loans for economic damage suffered as a result of recent freezes and frosts that hit much of Florida earlier this year. The low-interest loans are not available for crop losses (except for aquaculture). But the loans can cover other losses such as lost sales or payroll. We speak with Sharon Dooley, a Public Affairs Specialist with the SBA, about what's covered and how to apply.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Gordon Bird here with Beyond the News. The Small Business
Administration is offering low interest federal disaster loans to businesses
and nonprofits that were affected by the cold weather in
much of Florida, including freeze and frost and ice damage
in late January and early February. Sharon Dooley with the
SBA joins us to talk about those loans on Beyond
(00:20):
the News and we welcome you.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Good afternoon.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Well, now your declaration. The SBA's declaration covers several counties
ranging from the Panhandle and Big Bend area all the
way down to central and South Florida. And I'm just
going to run them down here quickly. They're Bay County,
which is Panama City, Brevard County, which is the Melbourne area, Calhoun, Citrus, Gadsden, Hernando, Hillsboro, Holmes,
(00:45):
Indian River, Jackson, Levy, Liberty, Marion, Martin, Okechobiacola, Pasco, Penelas, Polk,
Saint Lucie, Sumter, and Washington Counties, which include good portions
of the Tampa, Orlando and West Home Beach areas as well. Now,
the SBA loans, as I understand, they're not available to
(01:06):
most farmers. I assume that they have other resources USDA
and such available to them. So if you could give
me some examples of the types of businesses and nonprofits
that would be eligible to apply for these loans.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Okay, Well they're not available to farmers. Okay, so any
other type of small business that had losses economic losses,
so this is not a physical losses economic loss or
maybe the lost businesses they need help with fixed income
because of the freeze frost and ice that occurred January
third through February fifth of this year. So farmers are
(01:42):
not available however, not for their crops. But if they
had a subsidiarity of their farm, like say they rose,
they were raising crop, growing crop, and they had a
little marketplace that where they sold those crops at, and
that place of business you know, was not open or anything,
you know, fixed that they couldn't then that that they
(02:05):
will qualify, but not for their crops or not for
their cattle or anything like that. So we don't cover that.
Now we do cover the aquaculture business, which is like
I'm gonna say, controlled harvesting of like aquatic like fish, shellfish,
things like that. Some some plants like seaweed and algae
(02:25):
and fresh water, and it's controlled, and those type of
business will be els and regular nonprofit businesses that just
had economic loss due to this weather during that time.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
Now, a couple of examples that are specific to our
area that I can think of of aquaculture would be,
we have a large number of tropical fish farms along
the west coast of Florida and particularly in the Tampa
Bay area and going south, and those I presume would
be covered by aquaculture. And also the there are some
(02:58):
clam farmers up around the Cedar Key area and I
don't know if they suffered any damage during the recent
cold outbreak, but presumably that would be under that same category.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
Yes, it would, it definitely would. They would be eligible
to apply under this circumstance, under this type of disaster declaration.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Okay, if you could walk us through the application process.
If somebody is listening and they're part of a business
or nonprofit that was affected by the recent cold.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
Weather, okay, well they can go on with this, which
is our sagriculture second ad we call them sick aggs.
They have to apply online. They go to SBA dot
Goova Force last disaster. They'll go in and there is
several disasters out now, but this one particular. They'll put
in the like Florida, and they'll put in their county
(03:49):
and they'll it's only for businesses, so and that way
this will come up if it's covering out. I'm going
to be honest with you. There's about five declarations that
came out today, and some of them have overlapping county,
so there's a frosting freeze. There's a freeze there. I mean,
there's different things. So they may qualify under each separate disaster.
(04:11):
So just because they apply for one does not mean
they can't apply for the other, even though they're in
the same county. They can. And these loans are, like
I say, are low interest for businesses as low as
four percent and well four percent, and for a pmp's
private nonprofit is three point six two five percent interests,
no interest for the first twelve months, no payment due
(04:32):
until twelve months after they receive the initial loan proceeds.
And that's because we're trying to help them get back
on their feet, so we don't expect to give them
alone to day and say thirty you know, thirty days
down the line. You need to pay us back. And
these are fixed loans, so whatever they start out with,
it's what they'll end up with all through the life
of the loan. There's no prepayment penalty for these loans.
(04:55):
They can take some, all, or none of their loan.
They're no no obligation even though they apply to it,
you know, accepted when they come back with the offer,
it's if it works for them, then we encourage them
to go ahead and apply. These dolls could be used
for fixed fixed debt, like payroll things of that nature
that they were not able to pay because of this
(05:16):
disaster we call a disaster, and that's the frost freezing
ice that occurred January three to February through February fifth,
So it could have happened January twenty third, twenty four four,
or however long long. The deadline is through February fifth.
They can still apply.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
And as you said, there for our economic losses as
opposed to physical or building losses.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Correct.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
And I assume that the kind of proof or support
that you need to use when you apply would be
things like tax returns, payroll things like that.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Correct, Yes, because they'll your tax return to show the
income difference, you know, before and during and after the
disaster occurred. So that's how they'll substantiate, you know, what
they're you know, may be approved for yes, and each
business is separate. You know that everybody has their own
unique circumstances. So just because one business and to qualify,
(06:16):
it could be right next door and that other one
can qualify. So we encourage everybody to apply because that's
the only way that you're going to find out if
you're ls were and there's no cost to apply.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
Let's see, is there a deadline set for when you
need to get your application in?
Speaker 2 (06:31):
There is in The deadline is November six of this
year because with these type of law disasters, second culture
A Disasters declared on March fourth, and the deadline to
apply is November six this year.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
All right, and once again that website is SBA dot
gov slash disaster and.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Then more slash disaster and then you.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
Just go and find the particular one that we're talking about,
which is the Florida freeze. I assume, well.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
What they'll do because like I said, there are five
different of these types of disasters that came down and
some of the counties overlapping each disaster. So if they
want to apply this is this one particular, it's freeze,
frost and ice. There's another freeze, then there's another frost
and ice and a freezing ice. And if it's the
same time period, and basically this one, they're around the
(07:27):
same deadline, because I think the others are November fourth.
I'm pretty sure there are no living fourth and they
can apply for each disaster if something happened. And so
what you'll do is you'll go in, you go on
the website, You'll pick your state, and you'll pick your
county and the disasters will show up that you may
(07:48):
and that they may qualify for under that and then
after that is pretty straightforward. So if they have any questions,
we do have a customer service line, a disaster customer
service at SBA dot gov, or they can call that
eight one hundred number at one eight hundred six two
nine five five. They can also once they apply, they
(08:10):
can call that eight hundred number and they can get
a status update, see if they need to submit any
more documentation or just find out where they are in
the process.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
All good to know and we wish the best of
success to anybody who suffered any losses during the recent
cold weather. Sharon Dooley with the Small Business Administration here
to talk with us about loans, low interest loans for
businesses and nonprofits affected by the cold weather we had
back in January and February. Thank you very much for
(08:41):
joining us on beyond the News.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
Thank you for having me
Gordon Bird here with Beyond the News. The Small Business
Administration is offering low interest federal disaster loans to businesses
and nonprofits that were affected by the cold weather in
much of Florida, including freeze and frost and ice damage
in late January and early February. Sharon Dooley with the
SBA joins us to talk about those loans on Beyond
(00:20):
the News and we welcome you.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Good afternoon.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Well, now your declaration. The SBA's declaration covers several counties
ranging from the Panhandle and Big Bend area all the
way down to central and South Florida. And I'm just
going to run them down here quickly. They're Bay County,
which is Panama City, Brevard County, which is the Melbourne area, Calhoun, Citrus, Gadsden, Hernando, Hillsboro, Holmes,
(00:45):
Indian River, Jackson, Levy, Liberty, Marion, Martin, Okechobiacola, Pasco, Penelas, Polk,
Saint Lucie, Sumter, and Washington Counties, which include good portions
of the Tampa, Orlando and West Home Beach areas as well. Now,
the SBA loans, as I understand, they're not available to
(01:06):
most farmers. I assume that they have other resources USDA
and such available to them. So if you could give
me some examples of the types of businesses and nonprofits
that would be eligible to apply for these loans.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Okay, Well they're not available to farmers. Okay, so any
other type of small business that had losses economic losses,
so this is not a physical losses economic loss or
maybe the lost businesses they need help with fixed income
because of the freeze frost and ice that occurred January
third through February fifth of this year. So farmers are
(01:42):
not available however, not for their crops. But if they
had a subsidiarity of their farm, like say they rose,
they were raising crop, growing crop, and they had a
little marketplace that where they sold those crops at, and
that place of business you know, was not open or anything,
you know, fixed that they couldn't then that that they
(02:05):
will qualify, but not for their crops or not for
their cattle or anything like that. So we don't cover that.
Now we do cover the aquaculture business, which is like
I'm gonna say, controlled harvesting of like aquatic like fish, shellfish,
things like that. Some some plants like seaweed and algae
(02:25):
and fresh water, and it's controlled, and those type of
business will be els and regular nonprofit businesses that just
had economic loss due to this weather during that time.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
Now, a couple of examples that are specific to our
area that I can think of of aquaculture would be,
we have a large number of tropical fish farms along
the west coast of Florida and particularly in the Tampa
Bay area and going south, and those I presume would
be covered by aquaculture. And also the there are some
(02:58):
clam farmers up around the Cedar Key area and I
don't know if they suffered any damage during the recent
cold outbreak, but presumably that would be under that same category.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
Yes, it would, it definitely would. They would be eligible
to apply under this circumstance, under this type of disaster declaration.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Okay, if you could walk us through the application process.
If somebody is listening and they're part of a business
or nonprofit that was affected by the recent cold.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
Weather, okay, well they can go on with this, which
is our sagriculture second ad we call them sick aggs.
They have to apply online. They go to SBA dot
Goova Force last disaster. They'll go in and there is
several disasters out now, but this one particular. They'll put
in the like Florida, and they'll put in their county
(03:49):
and they'll it's only for businesses, so and that way
this will come up if it's covering out. I'm going
to be honest with you. There's about five declarations that
came out today, and some of them have overlapping county,
so there's a frosting freeze. There's a freeze there. I mean,
there's different things. So they may qualify under each separate disaster.
(04:11):
So just because they apply for one does not mean
they can't apply for the other, even though they're in
the same county. They can. And these loans are, like
I say, are low interest for businesses as low as
four percent and well four percent, and for a pmp's
private nonprofit is three point six two five percent interests,
no interest for the first twelve months, no payment due
(04:32):
until twelve months after they receive the initial loan proceeds.
And that's because we're trying to help them get back
on their feet, so we don't expect to give them
alone to day and say thirty you know, thirty days
down the line. You need to pay us back. And
these are fixed loans, so whatever they start out with,
it's what they'll end up with all through the life
of the loan. There's no prepayment penalty for these loans.
(04:55):
They can take some, all, or none of their loan.
They're no no obligation even though they apply to it,
you know, accepted when they come back with the offer,
it's if it works for them, then we encourage them
to go ahead and apply. These dolls could be used
for fixed fixed debt, like payroll things of that nature
that they were not able to pay because of this
(05:16):
disaster we call a disaster, and that's the frost freezing
ice that occurred January three to February through February fifth,
So it could have happened January twenty third, twenty four four,
or however long long. The deadline is through February fifth.
They can still apply.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
And as you said, there for our economic losses as
opposed to physical or building losses.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Correct.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
And I assume that the kind of proof or support
that you need to use when you apply would be
things like tax returns, payroll things like that.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Correct, Yes, because they'll your tax return to show the
income difference, you know, before and during and after the
disaster occurred. So that's how they'll substantiate, you know, what
they're you know, may be approved for yes, and each
business is separate. You know that everybody has their own
unique circumstances. So just because one business and to qualify,
(06:16):
it could be right next door and that other one
can qualify. So we encourage everybody to apply because that's
the only way that you're going to find out if
you're ls were and there's no cost to apply.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
Let's see, is there a deadline set for when you
need to get your application in?
Speaker 2 (06:31):
There is in The deadline is November six of this
year because with these type of law disasters, second culture
A Disasters declared on March fourth, and the deadline to
apply is November six this year.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
All right, and once again that website is SBA dot
gov slash disaster and.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Then more slash disaster and then you.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
Just go and find the particular one that we're talking about,
which is the Florida freeze. I assume, well.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
What they'll do because like I said, there are five
different of these types of disasters that came down and
some of the counties overlapping each disaster. So if they
want to apply this is this one particular, it's freeze,
frost and ice. There's another freeze, then there's another frost
and ice and a freezing ice. And if it's the
same time period, and basically this one, they're around the
(07:27):
same deadline, because I think the others are November fourth.
I'm pretty sure there are no living fourth and they
can apply for each disaster if something happened. And so
what you'll do is you'll go in, you go on
the website, You'll pick your state, and you'll pick your
county and the disasters will show up that you may
(07:48):
and that they may qualify for under that and then
after that is pretty straightforward. So if they have any questions,
we do have a customer service line, a disaster customer
service at SBA dot gov, or they can call that
eight one hundred number at one eight hundred six two
nine five five. They can also once they apply, they
(08:10):
can call that eight hundred number and they can get
a status update, see if they need to submit any
more documentation or just find out where they are in
the process.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
All good to know and we wish the best of
success to anybody who suffered any losses during the recent
cold weather. Sharon Dooley with the Small Business Administration here
to talk with us about loans, low interest loans for
businesses and nonprofits affected by the cold weather we had
back in January and February. Thank you very much for
(08:41):
joining us on beyond the News.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
Thank you for having me
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