11-254.09. Water improvements program; grants; requirements; annual report

A. The board of supervisors may establish a program to allow persons to make gifts, grants or donations for the purpose of providing financial assistance to qualified owners of residential real property for making improvements to an existing drinking water well or providing for a water delivery system for the residence.

B. The board shall designate an entity to operate the program, to establish criteria for grants and to award grants as prescribed by this section. The entity may be a county agency, department or division or may be a private, nonprofit corporation as determined by the board of supervisors.

C. The program shall do all of the following:

1. Limit grant recipients to persons who are low-income or fixed-income owners of residential property.

2. Develop application criteria and criteria for awarding grants.

3. Restrict a grant recipient's use of grant monies to deepening an existing drinking water well for the recipient's residence or to plumbing or replumbing the recipient's residence for a water delivery system.

D. The board of supervisors may not use general county monies for grants under the program.

E. The entity that operates the program shall make and submit to the county board of supervisors, the president of the senate and the speaker of the house of representatives on or before July 1 of each year a report containing a description of program operations of the preceding year, including the amount of gifts, grants or donations received and the grants awarded.