Priority System

(1) Establishment of Calendar Year Priority List. (a) Prior to the beginning of each calendar year, the Department shall establish a single, annual list of projects prioritized to receive financial assistance pursuant to 310 CMR 45.00. (b) In establishing the priority list, the Department may require eligible borrowers to submit any information deemed necessary by the Department for project evaluation, including but not limited to, information which addresses the proposed project's compliance with the IUP Project Listing criteria in 310 CMR 45.05(2) and the Project Selection Criteria in 310 CMR 45.06. The Department may establish a reasonable deadline for its receipt of such information, and may decline to evaluate and prioritize a project if the Department determines that the eligible borrower has failed to provide sufficient information. (c) Prior to adopting the priority list, the Department shall conduct a public hearing to receive and consider public comment on the proposed list. The Department will ensure that notice of the public hearing will be published in one or more newspapers of general circulation 30 days prior to the date of the hearing. (2) Intended Use Plan Project Listing. (a) Eligible projects which the Department finds are ready to proceed and for which funds are available in the calendar year in which the priority list is established shall be placed on the IUP Project Listing portion of the priority list. The Department reserves the right to establish an IUP Project Listing that contains fewer projects than would use the total amount of funding available in the relevant calendar year, or, alternatively, to expand the IUP Project Listing during the course of the relevant calendar year based on an additional allocation of available funding. (b) The eligible borrower proposing the project must show in its application that its project meets each of the following criteria in order for the Department to place the project on the IUP Project Listing: 1. As determined by the Department, the project's benefits to public health and/or drinking water quality, as evidenced by its ranking on the priority list, are sufficiently high to warrant its funding as a priority in the relevant calendar year; 2. The eligible borrower has already obtained its local funding authorization or otherwise committed funding for the project, or has provided a specific schedule to obtain such funding authorization or funding commitment by June 30 of the relevant th calendar year; and 3. The eligible borrower demonstrates to the Department's satisfaction that its project is sufficiently advanced in its implementation such that the LGU or public water system will file a complete loan application with the Department for the project by October 15th of the relevant calendar year. A complete application includes, as applicable, approvable plans and specifications for the project and evidence that the eligible borrower has, at a minimum, filed applications for any permits or environmental reviews applicable to the project. As provided in 310 CMR 45.12(1)(b), the Department may deny any application which it determines to be incomplete. (c) In the event that a project placed on an IUP Project Listing fails during the course of the calendar year to meet one or more of the criteria in 310 CMR 45.05(2)(b), the project may be removed from the IUP Project Listing and returned to the applicable priority level on the priority list. In such event, the Department reserves the right to raise one or more project(s) which are determined by the Department to be of the highest priority and which meet the criteria in 310 CMR 45.05(2)(b), consistent with available funding, to the IUP Project Listing, provided the Department shall raise a small system project which meets the criteria in 310 CMR 45.05(2)(b) before an otherwise higher ranked project if the funding of such small system project is needed to meet the 15% allocation of funds for small systems, as provided in the SDWA. Subject to the availability of funding and the project's priority, the Department further reserves the right to restore any project removed from the IUP Project Listing for failure to meet the criteria in 310 CMR 45.05(2)(b) if the project thereafter meets those criteria prior to the end of the relevant calendar year. (d) The implementation of some projects on the IUP Project Listing will take place over two years or more. For such multi-year projects, the Department will limit the amount of actual funding reserved for the project on each annual IUP Project Listing to the amount needed to fund the project for one year. In the event that a multi-year project receives a project approval certificate from the Department by the end of the relevant calendar year, the Department will reserve another annual increment(s) of funding for the project on subsequent calendar year IUP Project Listings, subject to the availability of funding, and provided the project is implemented in accordance with the schedule in the project approval certificate, as determined by the Department. The limitation on financial assistance in 310 CMR 45.05(3) shall apply to any amounts reserved as annual increments of funding for a multi-year project on subsequent calendar year IUP Project Listings. (3) Limitation on Financial Assistance. (a) No eligible borrower shall receive Department approval for financial assistance from the Trust for a project or projects in a calendar year in any amount in excess of 25% of the total financial assistance authorized on the IUP Project Listing portion of the priority list in that calendar year, including any amounts reserved as annual increments of funding for a multi-year project on subsequent calendar year IUP Project Listings. (b) The Department reserves the right to waive the limitation on financial assistance set forth in 310 CMR 45.05(3)(a), in whole or in part, if the Department determines that one or more projects on the IUP Project Listing portion of the applicable priority list has failed or will fail to meet the criteria in 310 CMR 45.05(2)(b) by October 15 in the relevant calendar th year, or if the Department allocates additional available funding to the IUP Project Listing during the course of the relevant calendar year.