New Mexico § 75-1-6 - Average residential user cost reduction grants and zero percent loans

§ 75-1-6. Average residential user cost reduction grants and zero percent loans

A. No more than twenty-five percent of the proceeds of each severance tax bond issuance

or other appropriation for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of the Rural

Infrastructure Act shall be reserved for average residential user cost reduction grants

or zero percent loans to reduce average residential user cost to a reasonable level

for eligible financially needy loan recipients whose water supply or wastewater facilities

serve less than three thousand persons. B. Average residential user cost reduction grants and zero percent loans shall be

allocated by the department in accordance with the provisions for grants and loans

pursuant to the Rural Infrastructure Act, provided that an average residential user

cost reduction grant or zero percent loan shall not exceed five hundred thousand dollars

($500,000). Such grants and loans shall reduce only the principal and interest portion of the

average residential user cost to a reasonable cost as determined by the department. C. A zero percent loan or average residential user cost reduction grant shall be approved

by the department when, after construction bids have been received, the following

conditions have been met by the local authority whose average residential user costs

are in need of reduction: (1) the construction project is designed using the most cost-effective and dependable

option; (2) the system is designed with adequate built-in expansion capacity; (3) other sources of grant funds have been sought and are not available in a timely

manner; (4) the project cannot feasibly be reduced in scope or phased so as to bring it within

available loan funds and within reasonable user cost; and (5) the local authority's median household income is less than ninety percent of the

statewide non-metropolitan median household income based on the most current federal

decennial census.