2015 Vermont Statutes
Title 24 - Municipal and County Government
Chapter 120 - Special Environmental Revolving Fund
Subchapter 1: GENERAL PROVISIONS
§ 4753a Awards from revolving loan funds

§ 4753a. Awards from revolving loan funds

(a) Pollution control. The General Assembly shall approve all categories of awards made from the special funds established by section 4753 of this title for water pollution control facility construction, in order to assure that such awards conform with State policy on water quality and pollution abatement, and with the State policy that municipal entities shall receive first priority in the award of public monies for such construction, including monies returned to the revolving funds from previous awards. To facilitate this legislative oversight, the Secretary of Natural Resources shall annually no later than January 15 report to the House Committee on Corrections and Institutions, the Senate Committee on Institutions, and the House and Senate Committees on Resources and Energy on all awards made from the relevant special funds during the prior and current fiscal years, and shall report on and seek legislative approval of all the types of projects for which awards are proposed to be made from the relevant special funds during the current or any subsequent fiscal year. Where feasible, the specific projects shall be listed. The provisions of 2 V.S.A. § 20(d) (expiration of required reports) shall not apply to the report to be made under this subsection.

(b) Water supply. The Secretary of Natural Resources shall no later than January 15, 2000 recommend to the House Committee on Corrections and Institutions, the Senate Committee on Institutions, and the House and Senate Committees on Natural Resources and Energy a procedure for reporting to and seeking the concurrence of the Legislature with regard to the special funds established by section 4753 of this title for water supply facility construction.

(c) [Repealed.]

(d) Loan forgiveness; pollution control. Notwithstanding any other provision of law regarding loan forgiveness, upon the award of a loan from the Vermont Environmental Protection Agency Pollution Control Revolving Fund (CWSRF), the Secretary of Natural Resources, in a manner that is consistent with federal grant provisions, may forgive up to 50 percent of a loan if the award is made for a project on a priority list and the project is capitalized, at least in part, from funds derived from a federal CWSRF capitalization grant that includes provisions authorizing loan forgiveness. Such loan forgiveness shall be based on the loan value, but funds to be forgiven shall only consist of federal funds, except where the loan is used as a match to other federal grants requiring nonfederal funds as a match.

(e) Loan forgiveness; drinking water.

(1) Notwithstanding any other provision of law regarding loan forgiveness, upon the award of a loan from the Vermont Environmental Protection Agency Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF), the Secretary of Natural Resources, in a manner that is consistent with federal grant provisions, may forgive up to 100 percent of a loan if the award is made for a project on the priority list and the project is capitalized, at least in part, from funds derived from a federal DWSRF capitalization grant that includes provisions authorizing loan forgiveness. Such loan forgiveness shall be based on the loan value, but funds to be forgiven shall only consist of federal funds, except where the loan is used as a match to other federal grants requiring nonfederal funds as a match.

(2) Notwithstanding any other provision of law regarding loan forgiveness, upon the award of a loan from the Vermont Drinking Water State Revolving Loan Fund, the Secretary of Natural Resources may provide loan forgiveness for preliminary engineering and final design costs when a municipality undertakes such engineering on behalf of a household that has been disconnected involuntarily from a public water supply system for reasons other than nonpayment of fees, provided it is not the same municipality that is disconnecting the household.

(f) Loan forgiveness standard. The Secretary shall establish standards, policies, and procedures as necessary for implementing subsections (d) and (e) of this section for allocating the funds among projects and for revising standard priority lists in order to comply with requirements associated with federal capitalization grant agreements. (Added 1997, No. 148 (Adj. Sess.), § 52, eff. April 29, 1998; amended 2007, No. 52, § 47, eff. May 28, 2007; 2011, No. 117 (Adj. Sess.), § 4; 2011, No. 161 (Adj. Sess.), § 15; 2013, No. 142 (Adj. Sess.), § 40; 2015, No. 26, § 39, eff. May 18, 2015.)