SAUGATUCK, Mich. — On Memorial Day weekend, Saugatuck is typically jammed boats line docks near Water Street, boutique registers ring for hours and lines form at the slew of downtown ice cream parlors.
As is the case nationwide, the novel coronavirus pushed the summer rush back months. It left Lisa Freeman's sales slipping.
"We started in May way under goal because we couldn't open when we normally did," said Freeman, owner of 'Round the Corner Ice Cream shop on Mason St.
Freeman applied for a loan through the Paycheck Protection Program as part of the federal government's COVID-19 relief bill. Her application was successful in the second round of funding.
"We got a loan of under $20,000, which was pretty much what we applied for and went hand-in-hand with the reports we provided for salary," said Freeman, who has receipts to prove it.
But according to PPP data released by the U.S. Small Business Administration on July 6, 'Round the Corner received a loan between $2 and $5 million – more than 125 times Freeman's actual haul.
"I was shocked, I think my jaw was on the desk," she said.
"It creates a lot of anxiety. What process will I have to go through to get this cleaned up? Will they come back to me and say, 'This is what you owe?'"
Only one other Michigan ice cream shop, House of Flavors in Ludington, appears on the list of businesses receiving more than $150,000 through the program. Management of the lakeshore business, also a full-service restaurant, confirmed the loan.
The U.S. SBA said there is no error with the data in regard to Freeman's loan, but did not comment further. Randi Berris, a spokesperson for TCF Bank, said they accurately submitted 'Round the Corner's loan.
"However, SBA says it is publishing preliminary figures and not the final loan amounts actually disbursed to PPP borrowers," Berris said. "We apologize for any confusion this may cause our customers."
Freeman, who said she struggles to get answers on any PPP-related questions, expects more businesses to experience similar issues.
"If you see one mouse, there's probably 100," she said. "I think we're going to find that there's a lot of errors in this. It's not going to be a very clean situation in the long run."
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