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President Obama signed H.R. 1 (The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act) on February 17, 2009. The Act provides funding for a range of projects and programs.
List of ARRA funded projects in Bend (8/20/09) Energy (5/20/09) Water (6/3/09) Roadway (3/17/09) Transit (9/1/09) Wastewater/Stormwater (4/28/09) TIGER Grant Program (8/24/09)
Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Program Through the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) Program, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will provide formula grants for projects that reduce total energy use and fossil fuel emissions, and improve energy efficiency. The funding will support energy audits and energy efficiency retrofits in residential and commercial buildings, the development and implementation of advanced building codes and inspections, and the creation of financial incentive programs for energy efficiency improvements. Other activities eligible for use of grant funds include transportation programs that conserve energy, projects to reduce and capture methane and other greenhouse gas emissions from landfills, renewable energy installations on government buildings, energy efficient traffic signals and street lights, deployment of Combined Heat and Power and district heating and cooling systems, and others. The City of Bend is expected to receive about $750,000 through this program. City staff is currently reviewing the EECBG program guidelines and considering options for spending these funds. Updates will be posted on this page as more information becomes available.
City of Bend proposed projects updated 5/20/09
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Compliance with federal and state health standards that ensure the safety of water for human consumption will often mean expensive investments in treatment and other facilities, for which financial assistance can be critical. Ways & Means: Congress has appropriated the capital that makes this revolving fund possible. State resources are used to match a portion of this federal grant. The Oregon Department of Human Services (DHS) and the Oregon Economic and Community Development Department (OECDD) jointly prepare the Intended Use Plan and other matters that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency needs for each year's grant award. Additionally the two departments work together to approve projects, administer the revolving loans and undertake related activities. The program's financing is available to all sizes of public drinking water systems, although 15 percent of the funds based in accordance with federal law are reserved for systems serving fewer than 10,000 population. Municipal, nonprofit and privately owned systems are eligible. Safe Drinking Water Revolving Loan Fund: Revolving Loan Fund activities that may be funded range from project planning to acquiring land and equipment and constructing facilities for better water supply, filtration, storage, distribution, etc. These moneys may not be used for costs associated with constructing dams, acquiring water rights, paying for operations, maintenance and administration activities, or for projects primarily aimed at fire suppression or growth or purchases unrelated to requisite compliance problem. Drinking Water Protection Fund: The Drinking Water Protection Fund provides financial assistance to drinking water systems to help implement strategies designed to minimize the risk that contaminants might enter the drinking water supply.
The State Revolving Fund Program and ARRA funding and the potential funding options for the City of Bend for Wastewater and Stormwater Program are explained below. The Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) Loan Program provides low cost loans for planning, design or construction of water pollution control facilities. The program is a federally funded and managed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to distribute and monitor program funding to all fifty states. The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (ODEQ) administers the program in the state of Oregon. There are six types of loans available and all have interest rates that are lower than the typical municipal bond ates. For example, the CWSRF loan interest rate for a 20 year payback 3.54% as compared to 6% for municipal bonding. There is an annual maintenance fee of 0.5% of the unpaid balance. The CWSRF program typically distributes approximately $10 million to $20 million dollars in loans to Oregon communities based on the allocations from the Federal Program. Applications for the loan can be submitted anytime but are only reviewed and ranked three times a year by the DEQ CWSRF staff. ODEQ ranks the projects based upon a published criteria and applicants with are placed on a priority list once they approved. The applicant list and the priority project list are included in an intended use plan (IUP). The IUP is open for public comment and consideration and then adopted as the IUP for the particular fiscal year. Each time monies are made available, they are allocated to as many funded and unfunded projects as possible. A maximum of 15% of the fiscal years allocation is available to any particular applicant. For instance, if the fund is $10 million dollars, the maximum annual allocation is $1.5 million dollars to any one community. Last year there were 40 applicants/communities on the priority list. When loan monies are awarded to communities, ODEQ shall negotiate and sign a loan agreement with the community. It is important to note that these loans are subordinate to other municipal bonds or rates. Thus, the loan amount is not included when calculating the debt ratio when determining other bonding potential.
The Oregon Transportation Commission approved applications for FTA Non-Urbanized Area (Section 5311) funding at its April 15 meeting. More than 30 transit districts across the state in areas with populations under 50,000 will split $12.1 million. Applicants will receive $8.6 million to purchase 93 vehicles-- many of which are likely to be assembled in Oregon-- as well as $2.7 million for equipment, $850,000 for facilities, and $1.6 million for intercity facilities and vehicles.
Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) Discretionary Grant Program
What is TIGER? TIGER is a federal program that was created as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act) legislation that was enacted in February. Like all Recovery Act programs, TIGER is focused on the near-term creation and retention of jobs, in particular those that are associated with transportation infrastructure projects. TIGER has nationwide federal funding of $1.5 billion and is set up to make competitive awards for "shovel ready" transportation projects that are between $20 million and $300 million dollars. All project applications must request at least $20 million (or request a waiver) and no more than $300 million. No state will receive more than 20 percent of available funds.
Roadway Funding Timelines
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