Subchapter II — Financial Assistance Requirements
NR 166.04 Types of financial assistance available.
NR 166.05 Annual funding policy, project priority list, and funding list.
NR 166.06 Project eligibility.
NR 166.07 Cost eligibility.
NR 166.08 Application process.
NR 166.09 Land ownership and easements documentation.
NR 166.10 Financial assistance requirements.
NR 166.12 Reimbursement and refinancing.
NR 166.13 Loan interest rates.
NR 166.135 Median household income.
NR 166.14 Financial assistance agreement conditions.
NR 166.15 Financial management.
NR 166.16 Financial assistance disbursements.
NR 166.17 Amendments to a financial assistance agreement.
NR 166.19 Records and records retention.
NR 166.20 Breach of contract.
Subchapter III — Priority Scoring and Ranking System
NR 166.23 Priority scoring criteria.
NR 166.24 Procedure for determining and updating project priority scores.
NR 166.25 Project ranking system.
Ch. NR 166 Note
Note: Chapter NR 166 was created as an emergency rule effective March 18, 1998. Chapter NR 166 as it existed on December 31, 2001 was repealed and a new chapter NR 166 was created effective January 1, 2002. Chapter NR 166 as it existed on May 31, 2007 was repealed and a new chapter NR 166 was created
Register May 2007 No. 617, effective June 1, 2007. Chapter NR 166 as it existed on June 30, 2015, was repealed and a new chapter NR 166 was created by
CR 14-044,
Register June 2015 No. 714, effective July 1, 2015.
Chapter NR 166 as it existed on October 31, 2023, was repealed and a new chapter NR 166 was created by CR 22-068, Register October 2023 No. 814, effective November 1, 2023. NR 166.01
NR 166.01
Purpose. The purposes of this chapter are all of the following:
NR 166.01(1)
(1) Establish rules under ss.
281.59 and
281.61, Stats., for the implementation and administration of a financial assistance program for the engineering and construction of public water system projects.
NR 166.01(2)
(2) Establish a priority system for the distribution of safe drinking water loan program financial assistance as provided in s.
281.61, Stats., and the mechanisms and methodology to be used to modify the priority system.
NR 166.01 Note
Note: All forms necessary for financial assistance under this chapter are available on the department's website. Paper forms may be acquired at no charge from the Department of Natural Resources, Bureau of Community Financial Assistance, 101 S. Webster St., P.O. Box 7921, Madison, Wisconsin 53707–7921. Most information is required to be submitted through the department's online application systems.
NR 166.01 History
History: CR 22-068: cr. Register October 2023 No. 814, eff. 11-1-23. NR 166.02
NR 166.02
Applicability. This chapter applies to all applicants for and recipients of financial assistance for the engineering and construction of public water systems made under ss.
281.59 and
281.61, Stats. This rule first applies to financial assistance applications submitted to the department on November 1, 2023. Compliance with the applicable requirements of this chapter is a prerequisite to receiving financial assistance under ss.
281.59 and
281.61, Stats.
NR 166.02 History
History: CR 22-068: cr. Register October 2023 No. 814, eff. 11-1-23. NR 166.03
NR 166.03
Definitions. In this chapter:
NR 166.03(2)
(2) “
Amendment” means a formal, written change to an existing legal agreement or contract executed by all parties to the original agreement or contract.
NR 166.03(3)
(3) “
American Community Survey” or “ACS” means the nationwide survey conducted by the U.S. bureau of the census to collect demographic, social, housing, and economic data and produce 1-year, 3-year, and 5-year estimates based on population thresholds.
NR 166.03(4)
(4) “
Applicant” means any municipality that submits to the department any of the following for financial assistance under this chapter:
NR 166.03(4)(a)
(a) Priority evaluation and ranking information as required by the department.
NR 166.03(5)
(5) “
Approval” means the written approval of the department.
NR 166.03(6)
(6) “
Block group” means a subdivision of a census tract made up of a cluster of blocks having the same first digit of their 4-digit identifying numbers within the tract.
NR 166.03(7)
(7) “
Breach of contract” means the failure of the financial assistance recipient to comply with any of the following:
NR 166.03(7)(a)
(a) The terms and conditions of the financial assistance agreement.
NR 166.03(7)(b)
(b) The terms and conditions of the municipal obligation resolution authorizing the issuance and sale of bonds or notes to the safe drinking water loan program.
NR 166.03(8)
(8) “
Capital improvement” means construction resulting in improvements to real property or depreciable property, or both, and adding to the value or useful life of these assets, including structural improvements or improvements that enhance usefulness or productivity. “Capital improvement” includes capital assets that are not structural but are necessary for provision of safe drinking water by a municipality, including trucks and other tangible assets with a single item cost of greater than $5,000.
NR 166.03 Note
Note: The following are examples of capital improvements: drilling a new well and constructing a well house; upgrading existing equipment or installing new, more efficient process equipment, such as pumps, or treatment equipment, such as chemical feed equipment; constructing new buildings or facilities; adding to or constructing major renovations of existing facilities; replacing aged or undersized water mains; constructing a water system crossing of a highway, railroad, or waterbody; constructing a watermain loop to eliminate one or more dead ends in the water system; constructing, upgrading, or improving an existing storage tank, including recoating the entire exterior or entire interior, or both, of a storage tank; or installing security, a supervisory control and data acquisition system, or monitoring equipment as part of a scored project.
Replacing an old pump with a new pump that is the same size and efficiency as the old pump is not considered a capital improvement; rather, it is maintenance.
NR 166.03(9)
(9) “
Census block” means the smallest unit for which the U.S. bureau of the census collects and tabulates population information in the decennial census and income information in the ACS.
NR 166.03(10)
(10) “
Census designated place” means a statistical area delineated for each decennial census according to U.S. bureau of the census guidelines for the purpose of presenting census data and ACS data for a concentration of population, housing, and commercial structures that is locally identifiable by name, but is not within an incorporated place.
NR 166.03(11)
(11) “
Census tract” means a small, relatively permanent statistical subdivision of a county used in the decennial census and the ACS, delineated for the purpose of presenting data, typically following visible features or governmental boundaries or both, including approximately 4,000 inhabitants, and designed to be a relatively homogeneous unit with respect to population characteristics, economic status, and living conditions.
NR 166.03(12)
(12) “
Change order” means an action that specifies and justifies a change to a construction contract that alters the time of completion or the total price, or both.
NR 166.03(14)
(14) “
Construction” means a set of actions taken to make a capital improvement, including any of the following actions if the set of actions is the most cost effective solution to the problem being solved with the project:
NR 166.03(14)(a)
(a) Building, erecting, extending, or assembling a water system or a new major asset for an existing water system.
NR 166.03(14)(b)
(b) Preparing a construction site or sites of a scored project for work activities, including grading, staking, digging, and demolition or abandonment of existing structures.
NR 166.03(14)(c)
(c) Purchasing an entire existing water system or buying capacity in an existing water system owned by another entity.
NR 166.03(14)(d)
(d) Altering, modifying, improving, upgrading, rehabilitating, or adding to existing water system facilities.
NR 166.03(14)(e)
(e) Performing major repairs or replacing major components of existing facilities.
NR 166.03(14)(f)
(f) Installing new piping or mechanical, electrical, or electronic equipment or facilities.
NR 166.03(16)
(16) “
Custom tabulation” means a special tabulation of income data from the ACS microdata files that is performed by the U.S. bureau of the census, is not part of the standard ACS data tabulations, and results in generation of a median household income for an area designated by the applicant as the boundaries of a town sanitary district, public inland lake protection and rehabilitation district, or municipal water district, or of the area served by the water system if the water system serves only a portion of the place or minor civil division in which it is located.
NR 166.03(17)
(17) “
Department” means the department of natural resources.
NR 166.03(18)
(18) “
Disadvantaged business enterprise” or “DBE” means a business entity certified as disadvantaged under the U.S. department of transportation unified certification program or other program approved by the U.S. environmental protection agency to certify disadvantaged businesses.
NR 166.03(19)
(19) “
Distribution system” means all pipes or conduits by which water is delivered to consumers except piping and fixtures inside buildings served and private service lines.
NR 166.03(20)
(20) “
DOA” means the department of administration.
NR 166.03(21)(a)
(a) Performing preliminary planning to determine the need for or the feasibility of building or modifying a water system.
NR 166.03(21)(b)
(b) Performing engineering, architectural, geotechnical, hydrogeological, environmental, archaeological, biological, fiscal, or economic investigations or studies.
NR 166.03(21)(c)
(c) Preparing surveys, designs, plans, bidding documentation, working drawings, specifications, or as-built drawings.
NR 166.03(21)(d)
(d) Coordinating, observing, inspecting, or supervising any of the activities under pars.
(a) to
(c) or under sub.
(14).
NR 166.03(22)
(22) “
Financial assistance” includes one or more of the following actions taken by the department and DOA under ss.
281.59 and
281.61, Stats.:
NR 166.03(22)(a)
(a) Providing a loan, principal forgiveness, a guarantee, or credit enhancement to a municipality.
NR 166.03(22)(b)
(b) Refinancing a municipality's interim debt obtained for the project.
NR 166.03(23)
(23) “
Financial assistance agreement” means a written agreement between a municipality, the department, and DOA that contains the terms and conditions of the financial assistance provided under this chapter to the municipality.
NR 166.03(24)
(24) “
Financial assistance agreement amendment” means a formal, written change to an existing financial assistance agreement executed by all parties to the original agreement.
NR 166.03(25)
(25) “
Force account work” means engineering, construction, or other project-specific activities performed by a municipality's paid employees or use of equipment owned by the municipality in construction of the project, or both.
NR 166.03(26)
(26) “
Future growth” means distribution system expansion beyond the existing system and excess capacity built into facilities that exceeds standard engineering practices.
NR 166.03(27)
(27) “
Interim debt” means a financial liability that is subject to repayment and incurred by an applicant to temporarily finance a scored project until permanent financing is obtained from the SDWLP, including liabilities in the form of lines of credit, short-term loans from the board of commissioners of public lands, bank loans, bond anticipation notes, general obligation bonds, revenue bonds, general obligation promissory notes, and certificates of indebtedness.
NR 166.03(28)
(28) “
Interim debt costs” means the net interest, fees, and charges associated with issuing interim debt, including municipal advisor fees, attorney fees, printing costs, bond rating charges, and trustee fees.
NR 166.03(29)
(29) “
Maintenance” means activities or procedures that are established, commonplace, or repetitious, and are performed or should be performed frequently or on a schedule to sustain the functional integrity and efficiency of existing facilities and to provide upkeep for prevention of early decline or failure, or are performed as needed in response to minor emergencies, such as watermain repair when a pipe bursts, including all of the following types of maintenance:
NR 166.03(29)(a)
(a) Preventive maintenance, including scheduled service, repair, inspection, adjustment, or replacement of parts, to keep equipment or facilities in satisfactory operating condition, to avoid frequent breakdowns and premature replacements, and to achieve the expected life of constructed assets and installed building equipment, conducted with a frequency of one year or less.
NR 166.03(29)(b)
(b) Corrective maintenance, including unscheduled maintenance repairs to correct deficiencies during the year in which they occur.
NR 166.03(29)(c)
(c) Mobile equipment maintenance, including all corrective, preventive, emergency, or replacement maintenance work done on mobile equipment assets, except when performed at time of purchase of used equipment to bring the purchased equipment to a fully functional or improved condition, or both.
NR 166.03(29)(d)
(d) Recurring maintenance, including preventive maintenance activities that recur on a periodic and scheduled cycle of greater than one year, but less than 10 years.
