Section 610.500  Application Cycle and Criteria for Grants and Loans

a)         Application Availability

1)         Applications for direct grant and loan assistance from the Department will be openly available if sufficient monies are allocated for the program. Upon request, the Department will supply potential applicants with an application package if sufficient monies are allocated for the program.

2)         Qualified applicants may apply for grant and loan assistance under this program.  Such applicants must submit an application on forms provided by the Department.  A standard application form will be used statewide.

b)         Program Application – Applications for grant and loan assistance from the Department must address the following items:

1)         Written certification by the applicant that an essential need exists for the public infrastructure financing in order to secure a health, safety or economic development project within the community.

2)         The applicant's financing capability and its ability to pay for, or secure the payment of, part or all of the proposed public infrastructure improvements, and the local government's tax effort, as shown by local tax rates relative to other local governments of the same type in the State. However, if the applicant is a not-for-profit medical facility or public health clinic, the applicant need not address the local government's tax effort.

3)         Local financing mechanisms available to help pay for the costs of the public infrastructure project, including, but not limited to, local revenue bonds, special service area tax proceeds, local user charges, or applicable federal loans or grants.

4)         The proposed public infrastructure improvements described in detail which shows their relationship to existing public property and capital improvement plans, as well as the pending health, safety or economic development project.

5)         Certification that the project is a health, safety or economic development project.

6)         The applicant's readiness to implement the project by providing a time schedule for project initiation; cost estimates which demonstrate the cost feasibility of the project; and a signed resolution of support from the organization's governing body.

(Source:  Amended at 20 Ill. Reg. 1179, effective January 5, 1996)