SBA, emergency management and local nonprofits outline disaster aid; FEMA application deadline July 23

Julie Garrett, a public affairs specialist with the U.S. Small Business Administration(SBA) Office of Disaster Recovery, told the Pulaski County Fiscal Court meeting that SBA offers low-interest disaster loans to homeowners, renters, businesses and nonprofits after the recent storms and tornadoes.

"We actually help the majority of our loans go to homeowners and renters," Garrett said, adding that the agency wants to make loans available and simplify qualification. She gave specific rates: "for homeowners and renters ... 2.813%. For businesses, the loans can be as low as 4%. And for nonprofits, the interest rate is 3.625%." Garrett described loan terms of generally 15 to 30 years and said homeowners can borrow up to $500,000 for real-estate repairs and up to $100,000 for contents; businesses can borrow up to $2,000,000 for damaged real estate, inventory, tools and fixtures. She said economic injury disaster loans are also available to businesses that did not sustain physical damage but are losing revenue.

Garrett urged residents to apply and explained application options: in-person assistance at the disaster recovery center (DRC), online at sba.gov/disaster and by phone at the number provided during the meeting (as read aloud). She also noted several borrower protections the SBA offers for smaller loans: "There's no collateral if you borrow 50,000 or less. There's no payment for the first year. There's no payments required to give you time to recover, and no interest accrues during that year." She said applicants may be able to include funds to rebuild safer features such as safe rooms.

Chris, representing Pulaski County emergency management, gave a field update on recovery operations and outreach. "We did our initial survey of our of the tornado, 2 days after. So Sunday 18 May, we start out with 254 surveys county wide ... As of yesterday, we were down to 38 folks we have not made contact with yet," Chris said. He noted county DRC hours: open 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday. Chris emphasized the importance of the FEMA filing deadline and warned residents not to assume a denial means finality: "If you receive a letter from FEMA that says you are ineligible ... probably at the bottom of that letter, there's gonna be something that's gonna tell why you're ineligible. It's probably have something to do along the lines with they don't have enough information."

Chris said the county has not set a DRC closure date; the first 30-day period ends in June and county staff will reassess. He told residents to use FEMA's online portal at disasterassistance.gov and to contact the local DRC or the county emergency manager if they receive an eligibility letter.

Anne (identified as a United Way board member) told the court the local United Way has received large donations of supplies and money for long-term recovery. "We have got supplies galore, for people in this county," she said, and described a distribution and storage effort including partnership with God's Food Pantry. She said the United Way plans a later application process for monetary assistance targeted to needs not covered by insurance and invited officials to publicize the resource.

County officials and presenters repeatedly urged residents to apply for assistance before the FEMA application deadline the meeting cited as July 23, 2025, and to visit the DRC for in-person help.

Ending: The court heard the SBA presentation and recovery updates as part of its regular meeting; SBA staff and local emergency management said they will continue outreach and staff the DRC to help residents through the July 23 filing deadline and the longer-term recovery period.