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HOUSE OF REPS LGVA
PAGE In
Reply to:
Com""n...:
loc.' GDY" 5. Ve'l'r,", AIf"r$ (Ch.lr)
Genlral Goyernment Approprl.lIon$
Neturel Resourcae & Env"o PrO/action
Councrl (0' Smlll1er Govem"'e".
o 91 750 O\Iersus HIghway
Po,t Office Bo)( 699
Tavernier, FL 33070
(305) 853-194T
o 525 A"'ge1e Stte.t
Key West Ciry Hell
KIIY Well. FL 33040
(305) 293-1658
o 3'7 House Office Building
402 South Mon,oll St....t
T.,leh.u.e, f:l. 32399-1300
(850) 488-9965
e.mall: 5oJsnaen.ken@legSI'18 fl.us
Florida House of Representatives
Ken Sorensen, Ph.D.
Slate Representative, District 120
TO:
All Local Governments in Monroe County and Appropriate Staff
FROM:
Representative Ken Sorensen
DATE:
April 1 e, 2001
RE:
Federal Funding for Wastewater and Stormwater Improvements
It is my pleasure to invite you to Tallahassee to a meeting with the Governor and to
discuss a strategy for use of the pending federal wastewater and stormwater funds.
You will be joined by other heads of Monroe County and Local Governments
(municipalities). I would propose that each local government select one of each:
Mayor; the individual expert on wastewaterlstormwater issues: and a financial officer,
i.e., administrator and/or manager. etc.
Last year. Congress enacted legislation authorizing federal funds for wastewater and
stormwater projects that will improve water Quality in the Florid Keys. This was a
significant first step in resolving our long-term water quality infrastructure needs. Now,
we must work together to develop a plan to present to Congress in order to receive an
actual appropriation during the upcoming federal fiscal year Governor Bush has been
extremely supportive of this effort, and has urged an appropriation of $30 million in the
next federal budget.
Representatives of the Governor's Tallahassee and Washington Offices as well as staff
of appropriate state agencies will be present to discuss options and develop a plan that
we can take to Congress. The plan must include priority projects for funding (both short
term and long term), as well as how we expect to provide the requIred local matching
dollars. I look forward to your participation in this important endeavor, and will see you
at the meeting in Tallahassee, Florida on Friday, April 27, 2001 from 10:00 AM _ 12:00
Noon. We will meet in the Governor's large conference room on the Plaza Level of the
Capitol. Attached are suggested guidelines recommended by the State for your
perusal I look forward to seeing you next week'
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PAGE 02
Allocation of $100 million Federal Funds for Wastewater & Stormwater
A..umption.:
1. Federal funds are to be obligated through one or more grant awards within
one year of appropriation to justify continued appropriations.
2. First year appropriation of $30 million is made October 1. 2001.
3. Grants are made by the Corps of Engineers for projects that will begin
construction within one year of grant award. That is, construction must begin
no later than October 1, 2003, for the initial appropriation. The Corps should
not be expected to be as lenient as USEPA is about starting and completing
projects
4. Unfunded mandates should be avoided if reasonably possible. Therefore,
there should be no bias towards stormwater grants at the expense of
wastewater grants. There is an existing statutory time-certain mandate to
improve wastewater treatment while there is no analogous requirement to
provide stormwater facilities.
Recommendations:
1 To qualify for grant award, the following conditions must be met All planning
(including financial) must be complete; public participation in project
development must be documented; project sites must be identJfied, found
environmentally acceptable. and available for the project; and wastewater and
stormwater systems would have to be operated on an enterprise (utifity or
"user pays") basis. A design/build contract or a construction contract would
have to have been either executed or authorized for execution by the project
sponsor's governing body.
2. Wastewater user rates and connection fees (but not the cost associated with
facilities to be under the ownerShip of the individual centralized system users)
would be equalized for all users of the different facilities that would be funded
under the appropriation(s). This would require rate adjustments as each
facility became operational. (It could require revenue transfers from one unit
of local government to another and favors a single authority responsible for all
services.) The same should be true for stormwater management facilities
funded under the appropriation(s). That is, comparable stormwater utility
rates WOUld have to be established.
3. The nominal grant percentage available would be 65% times the ratio of $100
million to $213 million, or roughly 30% of the eligible costs. This would
emphasize the reality of diminished approprtation expectations. This
percentage could be exceeded only if there were insufficient projects ready to
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HOUSE OF ~EP5 LGVA
PAGE El3
proceed and qualify for grants to fully utilize the appropriation(s). However,
the maximum grant would be 65%.
4. The acceptance of grant funds at 30% (or any other percentage) could not be
contingent upon the receipt of additional federal funds. Where that becomes
an issue, the grant funds for such a project for that year would be
relinquished. Relinquished funds would then be prorated and awarded for
those qualifying projects that would proceed without a guarantee of further
funding
5. The amount of funds for wastewater and stormwater from each appropriation
would be dependent upon documented needs. The split could be different for
each appropriation year. For the first year, wastewater needs are $403
million (under the wastewater masterplan). Stormwater needs are basically
those of Key West (about $23 million). Key Colony Beach also has
stormwater needs and may be on the order of $0.5 million. The stormwater
masterplan numbers are unavailable. The stormwater share of the currently
documented needs is 523.5 million divided by $426.5 million or 5.5% Of the
total. Thus, 5.5% of the first year appropriation is the maximum set aside for
stormwater. Future years' portions should reflect documented needs and
such needs are expected to be on the order of hundreds of millions of dollars
for both wastewater and stormwater.
5. Allocate funds within each category (wastewater and stormwater) among the
projects beginning with the most affordable project (i.e., lowest overall costs,
including capital, operation, and maintenance costs, per EDU for wastewater
or cost per catchment for stormwater). Depending on the amount of the
appropriation, one or more projects would be funded at the nominal (or higher
depending on readiness-to-proceed and "grant acceptance") grant
percentage. This approach would favor projects featuring favorable
economies of scale or cost.benefit characteristics, public support. an
unconditional commitment to move ahead, and the efficient use of
appropriations.
6. A priority system, incorporating the preceding recommendations, should be
set up so that individual project proposals can be ranked for implementation.
The FKAA should share the responSibility for developing such a system with
the other affected units of local government. (The pUblic needs
representation as well as a fair and transparent process.) This should
expedite the grant award process.
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