U.S. Small Business Administration Administrator Isabella Guzman verified Tuesday the agency recently updated its method of calculating costs when helping homeowners or businesses owners who lost everything in the Marshall Fire, meaning many get more financial relief.

In an interview with the Denver Gazette while Guzman was on a tour of small businesses, and participated in a panel discussion at Mi Casa Resource Center in Denver, she talked about strategies for small businesses facing rising inflation costs, the SBA’s disaster assistance and a possible looming recession.

Guzman was joined by U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse, D-Boulder, and Gov. Jared Polis at the Mi Casa event recognizing “National Small Business Week.”

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“I’ve tried to double down on ensuring that our office of disaster assistance is well-equipped to really support communities and be more responsive,” Guzman said.

Some who lost their homes complained to Gazette reporters that the SBA was using “1990-era valuations” for replacement property, and one said the administration would not count the square footage of his basement for a replacement home.

But Guzman said they’re re-evaluating those initial assessments, and trying to do more.

“Senators (John) Hickenlooper, (Michael) Bennet and Congressman (Joe) Neguse flagged this issue for me, and my team on the ground,” she said. “When we respond to what happens when a presidential disaster is declared, unfortunately, the SBA doesn’t go in first to do the assessment. So the economic analysis comes after and unfortunately the calculation that they were using to determine costs was outdated. We changed that with administrative authority and were able to go back to those borrowers and ensure they have access to this relief.”

So far, the SBA has received 2,366 applications from Marshall Fire victims – home and business owners, as well as “economic injury disaster loans.” It approved 721 of those, with loans totaling $101,935,400, according to the most recent SBA figures.

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“A healthy community is what a small business needs to succeed, so we really want communities to be resilient,” Guzman said about helping both home and business owners. “It’s often economic injury that’s broader than the physical disaster impact. And so we offer both the physical disaster and the economic injury.”

Asked how small business can best prepare for a possible recession and rising inflation costs, Guzman pointed to the plethora of small businesses that started in 2021 as boding well for the economy.

“We’ve just had a historically strong economic recovery, and not only that we’ve seen 7.4 million jobs created since the President (Joe Biden) took office,” said Guzman. “We’ve seen the fastest rate of growth in decades in terms of economic output. Fueling that has been this small business boom … 5.4 million of them actually started a business in 2021… That alone is a great indicator of what’s to come for those businesses. All these young firms are the one that create the jobs.”

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She encouraged business owners to use the resources of the SBA.

“They need to be in a position to quickly pivot and adapt, as they have been doing for the past two years,” she said. “There’s more to do with strategic planning and economic modeling has to be strong. We have advisors to help them do that. So they can pivot on price and still recruit and retain talent and still attract and grow their revenue base through customers.”