By Carol Sakowitz, Charlotte Sun Weekly and Herald

Area small business leaders aired their concerns regarding the current difficulty in obtaining bank loans to U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Sarasota, Monday at a field hearing conducted at the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee Campus near the county line.

The hearing was chaired by U.S. Rep. Kurt Schrader, D-Ore., chairman of the House Small Business Committee's Subcommittee on Finance and Tax. Buchanan is the ranking minority member of the subcommittee.

The field hearing, labeled "Access to Capital for Small Businesses," included testimony from four Sarasota-Manatee County-area business experts, as well as Eric Zarnikow, Small Business Administration associate administrator for capital access.

Following the hearing, Schrader said most of the comments made by local small business leaders are the same as those he's heard in Oregon.

"One of the things I'll take away from here is a sense of urgency," Schrader said. "This is one time where we actually can be of help in the worst recession in the country's history."

Zarnikow spoke first, telling the two legislators that despite guarantees of up to 90 percent on some SBA loans and the reduction or elimination of fees, "It's clear that many small business owners are still having a hard time getting access to credit."

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act initiatives have allowed the SBA to use $530 million to guarantee $23 billion in loans, he said. Of that, $1 billion went to Florida small businesses.

Zarnikow said a proposed SBA jobs plan would ask for an extension until the end of fiscal year 2010 of the 90 percent guarantee to attract banks still reluctant to take the risk of offering an small business loan. Additionally, the SBA proposes a $30 billion lending fund for low-cost capital to community banks to allow them to lend more.

Buchanan said opening lines of lending to small businesses "is exactly the issue Congress should be focused on."

"We must take whatever steps we can to ensure that small businesses have access to the capital they need to grow and and create new jobs."

One of the panelists, John Paul Orr, started Creative Agency Services Team with his wife, Kelly, two years ago with an initial investment of $175,000 from private investors. He said the 450-employee company is projected to have revenues of $6 million this year.

Orr said, "With better access to capital, we believe CAST could have grown at twice that rate and employed a larger workforce at a time when America desperately needs job creation.

"... Placing too much of our nation's priority on businesses thought too large to fail at the expense of small business is like frantically gathering fruit from a burning vineyard while allowing the roots to die," he said.

Charlotte Sun Weekly and Herald