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19 <br />capita income are important components in a highly competitive grant process. <br />However, early information from CDBG for the coming grant year is that individual <br />grants of up to $750,000 dollars may be available. <br />Last year, Orange County applied for and received funds for individual residential <br />hookups in the Rogers Road Neighborhood ($75,000). Since that time, some water and <br />sewer connections were completed, but the County was able to do that only because <br />water and sewer infrastructure was already in place. There were a few houses in the <br />community that were adjacent to existing water or sewer lines that were connected, and <br />the occupants were low- income. (They had an income of less than 50% of area median <br />income). It will be difficult for Orange County to compete for these resources, and it <br />depends on who else is applying in a given year and what the pool of funding is going to <br />be. All other things equal, Orange County would have difficulty competing with other <br />areas because the County is considered a wealthy county and is not economically <br />distressed. <br />To qualify today, the families or individuals that live in this area have to meet an income <br />standard which is 50% of the median family income. (For example: the median annual <br />income for a family of four is around $64,000, so to qualify a family in this area would <br />have to have an annual income of no more than $32,000). The County has basically <br />funded most of the individuals that meet that standard, and have already connected <br />them to water and sewer. Finding additional property owners that meet that income <br />cutoff would be difficult. There are not that many home owners in the Rogers Road <br />Neighborhood that are going to meet that income qualification. <br />The Task Force is looking at a total project cost of $5.8 million. A CDBG could cover <br />roughly twelve percent of the total estimated costs. The CDBG of $750,000 will require <br />5% matching funds of $37,500. In the community development criteria, the areas that <br />CDBG's are willing to fund are water first and sewer second. A CDBG is much more <br />inclined to fund a collaborative effort between units of local government, such as this <br />project. This collaboration would have a higher priority than any one government acting <br />independently. There are some pre -grant application costs that would be incurred on <br />the front end of the process. The Task Force is searching for local funding of $5 million <br />even if the project could qualify for a CDBG. <br />Clean Water Trust Fund Grant: <br />The North Carolina General Assembly has expressed an interest in funding more water <br />and sewer projects, and has designated $17 million for infrastructure projects. The <br />maximum grant amount per project is $750,000. There will likely be some consideration <br />to raising that limit for future years because most projects cost a million dollars or more, <br />although this year it remains at $750,000. The priorities will be for projects that have <br />A <br />