281.61(2r)(d)(d) Providing payments to the board of commissioners of public lands to reduce principal or interest payments, or both, on loans made to local governmental units under subch. II of ch. 24 by the board of commissioners of public lands for projects that are eligible for financial assistance under the safe drinking water loan program.

281.61(2r)(e)(e) Using funds received as federal capitalization grants under 42 USC 300j-12, any other method that is consistent with the federal program for safe drinking water state loan funds under 42 USC 300j-12 or any other federal law providing funding for or otherwise relating to that program, except that funds received as federal capitalization grants may not be used to provide principal forgiveness to a private owner of a community water system.

281.61(4)(4) Engineering report. The department may require a local governmental unit or private owner of a community water system that serves a local governmental unit seeking financial assistance for a project under this section to submit an engineering report. If an engineering report is required by the department, the local governmental unit or private owner of a community water system shall submit the engineering report prior to or concurrent with the submission of the application for financial assistance.

281.61(5)(5) Application.

281.61(5)(a)(a) A local governmental unit or private owner of a community water system that serves a local governmental unit shall submit an application for safe drinking water financial assistance and an engineering report, if required, to the department. The t department shall at least annually provide application submittal instructions to applicants, including a deadline for submitting applications, if any. The application shall be in the form and include the information required by the department and the department of administration and shall include plans and specifications that are approvable by the department under this section.

281.61(5)(b)(b) The department of administration and the department jointly may charge and collect service fees, established by rule, which shall cover the estimated costs of reviewing and acting upon the application and servicing the financial assistance agreement. No service fee established by rule under this paragraph may be charged to or collected from an applicant for financial assistance under s. 281.59 (13). The fees collected under this paragraph shall be credited to the environmental improvement fund.

281.61(6)(6) Priority list. The department shall establish a priority list that ranks each safe drinking water loan program project. The department shall promulgate rules for determining project rankings that, to the extent possible, give priority to projects that address the most serious risks to human health, that are necessary to ensure compliance with the Safe Drinking Water Act, 42 USC 300f to 300j-26, and that assist applicants that are most in need on a per household basis, according to affordability criteria specified in the rules. For the purpose of ranking projects under this subsection, the department shall treat a project to upgrade a public water system to provide continuous disinfection of the water that it distributes as if the public water system were a surface water system that federal law requires to provide continuous disinfection.

281.61(7)(7) Approval of application. The department shall approve an application received under sub. (5) after all of the following occur:

281.61(8)(8) Funding list; allocation of funding. The department shall establish a funding list for each fiscal year that ranks projects of applicants that submit approvable applications under sub. (5) in the same order that they appear on the priority list under sub. (6). If sufficient funds are not available to fund all approved applications for financial assistance, the department of administration shall allocate funding to projects that are approved under sub. (7) in the order that they appear on the funding list, except as follows:

281.61(8)(a)(a) The department of administration shall allocate to projects for public water systems that regularly serve fewer than 10,000 persons 15 percent of the available funds in each fiscal year or such lesser amount that fully funds the eligible projects for those public water systems.

281.61(8)(bL)(bL) In any biennium, no applicant may receive more than 25 percent of the amount of financial assistance planned to be provided or committed for projects under this section for that biennium.

281.61(8m)(8m) Conditions of financial assistance for local governmental units. As a condition of receiving financial assistance under the safe drinking water loan program, a local governmental unit shall do all of the following:

281.61(8m)(b)(b) Comply with those provisions of 42 USC 300f to 300j-26 and this chapter and the regulations and rules promulgated under those provisions that the department specifies.

281.61(8m)(d)(d) Develop and adopt a program of systemwide operation and maintenance of the public water system, including the training of personnel, as required by the department.

281.61(8p)(8p) Conditions of financial assistance for private owners. As a condition of receiving financial assistance under the safe drinking water loan program, a private owner of a community water system that serves a local governmental unit shall do all of the following:

281.61(8p)(b)(b) Comply with those provisions of 42 USC 300f to 300j-26 and this chapter and the regulations and rules promulgated under those provisions that the department specifies.

281.61(8s)(8s) Limitation on financial assistance. The amount of a payment under sub. (2r) (d) may not exceed the amount necessary to reduce the interest rate on the loan from market rate to the interest rate that would have been charged on a loan to the local governmental unit under sub. (2r) (a).

281.61(9)(9) Financial assistance commitments. The department and the department of administration may, at the request of a local governmental unit, issue a notice of financial assistance commitment after the local governmental unit’s application for safe drinking water financial assistance has been approved under sub. (7) and funding has been allocated under sub. (8) for the local governmental unit’s project. The notice of financial assistance commitment shall specify the conditions that the local governmental unit must meet to secure financial assistance and shall include the estimated repayment schedules and other terms of the financial assistance.