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Grand county projects in the running
Grand County governments other than the Town of Kremmling in line to possibly receive money from the American Recovery and reinvestment Act:
• The Town of Hot Sulphur Springs is ranked second on the ‘Fundable List’ in its category for a $3.3 million ‘loan’ with $2 million in principal forgiven and $1.3 million to be paid back at 0.0 percent interest over 20 years — for improvements to its domestic water system.
• Granby Sanitation District is ranked 31st on the revolving fund “Fundable List” for a $2 million loan at 2 percent to be paid back over 20 years — for collection system and transmission main improvements.
• The Town of Fraser is ranked 13th on the “Fundable List” in its category for a $751,060 “loan,” none of which needs to be paid back — for replacement of a raw water transmission line and other water system improvements.
Source: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Fundable List, May 21. Presence on the list does not guarantee funding. Awards scheduled to be announced on Friday, June 5.
• The Town of Hot Sulphur Springs is ranked second on the ‘Fundable List’ in its category for a $3.3 million ‘loan’ with $2 million in principal forgiven and $1.3 million to be paid back at 0.0 percent interest over 20 years — for improvements to its domestic water system.
• Granby Sanitation District is ranked 31st on the revolving fund “Fundable List” for a $2 million loan at 2 percent to be paid back over 20 years — for collection system and transmission main improvements.
• The Town of Fraser is ranked 13th on the “Fundable List” in its category for a $751,060 “loan,” none of which needs to be paid back — for replacement of a raw water transmission line and other water system improvements.
Source: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Fundable List, May 21. Presence on the list does not guarantee funding. Awards scheduled to be announced on Friday, June 5.
KREMMLING — Persistence may turn out to be the key that unlocks $2 million in federal stimulus money for the Town of Kremmling.
Town officials will find out on Friday whether their efforts will be rewarded, town manager Ted Soltis told the town council on Monday night.
“We’re looking good for getting approved here,” he said.
Kremmling is ranked 10th in a May 21 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act “Fundable List,” which is a dramatic about-face from six weeks ago, when Soltis was pessimistic about the town’s chances for getting any stimulus money.
The town hopes to use the money to replace leaky water lines that are spraying more than half the town’s treated water into the ground. In addition, the leaks are causing the water-treatment plant to operate at more than 100 percent capacity, which will accelerate the time frame in which the plant will need to be replaced, Soltis said.
Last year, the town began replacing the aged steel lines with the assistance of a Colorado Department of Local Affairs (DOLA) grant and a local match. The town was awarded another DOLA grant this year for the second phase of the water-line replacement project, though it received only half of its request.
Because of that, town officials are contemplating leaving some streets unpaved during the coming winter so the town can replace about 10,000 feet of the most degraded water lines this summer.
Kremmling officials were planning to seek another DOLA grant next year with $500,000 in matching town funds to complete the water-line replacement.
The $2 million stimulus “loan” would make that unnecessary, Soltis said, and save the local match. While the money is listed officially as a loan, not a grant, it carries a zero percent interest rate with “principal forgiveness” of $2 million.
In other words, the town would not have to pay back any of the money.
“So this is a savings of $500,000,” Soltis told council members.
The town would receive the federal money at the end of November, too late to begin work this year but allowing for a spring 2010 start.
Town officials will find out on Friday whether their efforts will be rewarded, town manager Ted Soltis told the town council on Monday night.
“We’re looking good for getting approved here,” he said.
Kremmling is ranked 10th in a May 21 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act “Fundable List,” which is a dramatic about-face from six weeks ago, when Soltis was pessimistic about the town’s chances for getting any stimulus money.
The town hopes to use the money to replace leaky water lines that are spraying more than half the town’s treated water into the ground. In addition, the leaks are causing the water-treatment plant to operate at more than 100 percent capacity, which will accelerate the time frame in which the plant will need to be replaced, Soltis said.
Last year, the town began replacing the aged steel lines with the assistance of a Colorado Department of Local Affairs (DOLA) grant and a local match. The town was awarded another DOLA grant this year for the second phase of the water-line replacement project, though it received only half of its request.
Because of that, town officials are contemplating leaving some streets unpaved during the coming winter so the town can replace about 10,000 feet of the most degraded water lines this summer.
Kremmling officials were planning to seek another DOLA grant next year with $500,000 in matching town funds to complete the water-line replacement.
The $2 million stimulus “loan” would make that unnecessary, Soltis said, and save the local match. While the money is listed officially as a loan, not a grant, it carries a zero percent interest rate with “principal forgiveness” of $2 million.
In other words, the town would not have to pay back any of the money.
“So this is a savings of $500,000,” Soltis told council members.
The town would receive the federal money at the end of November, too late to begin work this year but allowing for a spring 2010 start.
Hanging in there
The application process has been extremely arduous, Soltis said. So much so, it may have much to do with what appears to be Kremmling’s impending success.At the outset of the process, Colorado had about $32 million available for such projects with initial requests in the neighborhood of $1.3 billion, Soltis said, adding that such odds were daunting at best with nearly 100 projects in front of Kremmling’s.
However, multiple application deadlines and requirements dramatically winnowed the field of applicants, particularly when engineering requirements meant substantial expenses.
When the total for applications approached the $100 million mark, “I began to feel better about our chances,” Soltis said.
