2,000-plus Topeka businesses receive Paycheck Protection Program loans

Of the businesses that received federal Paycheck Protection Program loans over $150,000, more than 280 are headquartered in Topeka.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury released data recently detailing which businesses received loans of $150,000 or greater from the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program, which was created earlier this year in response to the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic.

The data released by the treasury department was organized by state. It revealed that, in total, more than 661,000 organizations across the country received monetary assistance in excess of $150,000 from the PPP program. Nearly 6,000 of those businesses and organizations are located in Kansas, and 286 operate out of Topeka.

Loan recipients include construction companies, law firms, car dealerships, utility companies, health care entities, retirement communities, schools, churches, nonprofits, restaurants and more. A complete list of recipients can be found on the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s website.

Family Service & Guidance Center was one Topeka nonprofit that received assistance, and according to the organization’s CEO, that money helped keep people employed at a time when the center’s mental health services are more important than ever.

“We’re a pretty critical health care provider in the community, particularly in the time of COVID when everybody is struggling with mental health issues — whether it’s somebody who already has a mental health diagnosis or just all the rest of us who are sitting at home and isolated,” said CEO Brenda Mills. “In order for us to stay open and provide services, the Paycheck Protection Program was really critical.”

The treasury department organized data on PPP loan recipients by loan amount. Names of recipients were only revealed for those organizations that accepted loans between $150,000 and $10 million.

It still released some data on those businesses that received loans less than $150,000, but names weren’t made available. More than 46,000 businesses in Kansas accepted loans that were anywhere from a few hundred dollars to $150,000, and close to 2,000 of those businesses are Topeka-based.

Family Service & Guidance Center received a loan in the $2-5 million range, according to the treasury department’s data — along with about 15 other Topeka businesses.

That loan helped the nonprofit retain its roughly 300 employees.

“We did continue to provide crisis services throughout all of this, and keeping those people available at all points in time was another reason why Paycheck Protection Program was critical,” Mills said. “Paycheck protection was truly a godsend.”

According to Mills, Family Service & Guidance Center didn’t see an increase in general services during the early months of the pandemic. It did see an increase in the need for crisis care, though. After a couple months, general services began to pick up, and new admissions in June 2020 exceeded new admissions in June 2019.

“We have many parents and children who are very stressed, and the upcoming school year with its many unknowns is likely to create multiple issues for our kids,” Mills said. “We are anticipating increased need for mental health supports like we’ve not seen before, all while some of our own staff are balancing work and their children’s schooling, as well. That’s an issue all employers will be grappling with.”

In addition, Family Service & Guidance Center has had to adapt some of its services. Providing those services via telehealth, ensuring cleaning protocols are in place and having to lower program capacity have all added to the financial burden.

Mills said Family Service & Guidance Center has been around since 1904, so she doesn’t think the center would have closed if it hadn’t had access to that PPP loan. However, there would have been pay cuts and positions lost.

“We would have survived, but we would have had to scale back pretty substantially,” Mills said. “We have to be a provider. We’re part of the public mental health system.”

Other nonprofits in Topeka that received PPP assistance in the $2 million to $5 million loan range include Midland Care Connection and Valeo Behavioral Health.

Bartlett & West — a Topeka-based company with business in such fields as architecture, engineering, construction, energy, transportation and more — appeared to have received the largest loan of any Topeka business.

According to the treasury department data, its accepted a loan in the $5 million to $10 million range. However, CEO Keith Warta said the company gave back a substantial portion of that loan after it realized it wouldn’t need the full amount. Warta said that dropped the loan into the $2 million to $5 million range.

That money helped Bartlett & West retain its roughly 350 employees.

“We’ve been able to maintain our employee levels, despite the fact that we’ve had several different contracts that have been canceled,” Warta said. “Some of the entities that we work with we’ve had, historically, embedded employees at their sites, and some of the funding for those positions have gone away due to the pandemic. We’ve seen new projects that were supposed to start up that haven’t started up, solicitations that were coming out that are not anymore.”

Warta said Bartlett & West has been hit hardest in project areas related to the oil and gas and rail industries — though other fields haven’t been immune.

Warta said he has seen data indicating many companies operating within the same industry as Bartlett & West have also taken advantage of the loan program.

“The surveys that I’ve seen done by consulting firms have indicated that 90% of those that are eligible to receive the PPP loan did within our engineering and architecture industry,” Warta said. “So it’s relatively common.”

Other Topeka-based construction and engineering companies that received loans include Haas Metal Engineering; BRB Contractors; Cook, Flatt & Strobel Engineers; and Bettis Asphalt & Construction. Bettis sister companies — such as Koss Construction Company, Bettis Contractors and Capital Trucking — were also recipients.

According to the treasury department data, most of the loans were approved in April — though some were approved later in May or June.

The Small Business Administration’s website indicates loans may be forgiven if at least 60% of the loan is used to cover payroll expenses.

Mills said she expects Family Service & Guidance Center’s loan will be forgiven. Warta said Bartlett & West is treating it as a loan and planning to repay it if needed.