(A) The director of the Ohio public works commission shall do all of the following:

(1) Approve requests for financial assistance from district public works integrating committees and enter into agreements with one or more local subdivisions to provide loans, grants, and local debt support and credit enhancements for a capital improvement project if the director determines that:

(a) The project is an eligible project pursuant to this chapter;

(b) The financial assistance for the project has been properly approved and requested by the district committee of the district which includes the recipient of the loan or grant;

(c) The amount of the financial assistance, when added to all other financial assistance provided during the fiscal year for projects within the district, does not exceed that district's allocation of money from the state capital improvements fund for that fiscal year;

(d) The district committee has provided such documentation and other evidence as the director may require that the district committee has satisfied the requirements of section 164.06 or 164.14 of the Revised Code;

(e) The portion of a district's annual allocation which the director approves in the form of loans and local debt support and credit enhancements for eligible projects is consistent with divisions (E) and (F) of this section.

(2) Authorize payments to local subdivisions or their contractors for costs incurred for capital improvement projects which have been approved pursuant to this chapter. All requests for payments shall be submitted to the director on forms and in accordance with procedures specified in rules adopted by the director pursuant to division (A)(4) of this section.

(3) Retain the services of or employ financial consultants, engineers, accountants, attorneys, and such other employees as the director determines are necessary to carry out the director's duties under this chapter and fix the compensation for their services. From among these employees, the director shall appoint a deputy with the necessary qualifications to act as the director when the director is absent or temporarily unable to carry out the duties of office.

(4) Adopt rules establishing the procedures for making applications, reviewing, approving, and rejecting projects for which assistance is authorized under this chapter, and any other rules needed to implement the provisions of this chapter. Such rules shall be adopted under Chapter 119. of the Revised Code.

(5) Provide information and other assistance to local subdivisions and district public works integrating committees in developing their requests for financial assistance for capital improvements under this chapter and encourage cooperation and coordination of requests and the development of multisubdivision and multidistrict projects in order to maximize the benefits that may be derived by districts from each year's allocation;

(6) Require local subdivisions, to the extent practicable, to use Ohio products, materials, services, and labor in connection with any capital improvement project financed in whole or in part under this chapter;

(7) Notify the director of budget and management of all approved projects, and supply all information necessary to track approved projects through the state accounting system;

(8) Appoint the administrator of the Ohio small government capital improvements commission;

(9) Do all other acts, enter into contracts, and execute all instruments necessary or appropriate to carry out this chapter;

(10) Develop a standardized methodology for evaluating local subdivision capital improvement needs that permits a district public works integrating committee to consider, when addressing a subdivision's project application, the subdivision's existing capital improvements, the condition of those improvements, and the subdivision's projected capital improvement needs in that five-year period following the application date.

(11) Establish a program to provide local subdivisions with technical assistance in preparing project applications. The program shall be designed to assist local subdivisions that lack the financial or technical resources to prepare project applications on their own.

(B) When the director of the Ohio public works commission decides to conditionally approve or disapprove projects, the director's decisions and the reasons for which they are made shall be made in writing. These written decisions shall be conclusive for the purposes of the validity and enforceability of such determinations.

(C) Fees, charges, rates of interest, times of payment of interest and principal, and other terms, conditions, and provisions of and security for financial assistance provided pursuant to the provisions of this chapter shall be such as the director determines to be appropriate. If any payments required by a loan agreement entered into pursuant to this chapter are not paid, the funds which would otherwise be apportioned to the local subdivision from the county undivided local government fund, pursuant to sections 5747.51 to 5747.53 of the Revised Code, may, at the direction of the director of the Ohio public works commission, be reduced by the amount payable. The county treasurer shall, at the direction of the director, pay the amount of such reductions to the state capital improvements revolving loan fund. The director may renegotiate a loan repayment schedule with a local subdivision whose payments from the county undivided local government fund could be reduced pursuant to this division, but such a renegotiation may occur only one time with respect to any particular loan agreement.

(D) Grants approved for the repair and replacement of existing infrastructure pursuant to this chapter shall not exceed ninety per cent of the estimated total cost of the capital improvement project. Grants approved for new or expanded infrastructure shall not exceed fifty per cent of the estimated cost of the new or expansion elements of the capital improvement project. A local subdivision share of the estimated cost of a capital improvement may consist of any of the following:

(1) The reasonable value, as determined by the director or the administrator, of labor, materials, and equipment that will be contributed by the local subdivision in performing the capital improvement project;

(2) Moneys received by the local subdivision in any form from an authority, commission, or agency of the United States for use in performing the capital improvement project;

(3) Loans made to the local subdivision under this chapter;

(4) Engineering costs incurred by the local subdivision in performing engineering activities related to the project.

A local subdivision share of the cost of a capital improvement shall not include any amounts awarded to it from the local transportation improvement program fund created in section 164.14 of the Revised Code.

(E) The following portion of a district public works integrating committee's annual allocation share pursuant to section 164.08 of the Revised Code may be awarded to subdivisions only in the form of interest-free, low-interest, market rate of interest, or blended-rate loans:

YEAR IN WHICH MONEYS ARE ALLOCATED

PORTION USED FOR LOANS

Year 1

0%

Year 2

0%

Year 3

10%

Year 4

12%

Year 5

15%

Year 6

20%

Year 7, 8, 9, and 10

22%

(F) The following portion of a district public works integrating committee's annual allocation pursuant to section 164.08 of the Revised Code shall be awarded to subdivisions in the form of local debt support and credit enhancements:

YEAR IN WHICH MONEYS ARE ALLOCATED

PORTIONS USED FOR

LOCAL DEBT SUPPORT

AND CREDIT

ENHANCEMENTS

Year 1

0%

Year 2

0%

Year 3

3%

Year 4

5%

Year 5

5%

Year 6

7%

Year 7

7%

Year 8

8%

Year 9

8%

Year 10

8%

(G) For the period commencing on March 29, 1988, and ending on June 30, 1993, for the period commencing July 1, 1993, and ending June 30, 1999, and for each five-year period thereafter, the total amount of financial assistance awarded under sections 164.01 to 164.08 of the Revised Code for capital improvement projects located wholly or partially within a county shall be equal to at least thirty per cent of the amount of what the county would have been allocated from the obligations authorized to be sold under this chapter during each period, if such amounts had been allocable to each county on a per capita basis.

(H) The amount of the annual allocations made pursuant to divisions (B)(1) and (5) of section 164.08 of the Revised Code which can be used for new or expanded infrastructure is limited as follows:

YEAR IN WHICH MONEYS ARE ALLOCATED

PORTION WHICH MAY

BE USED FOR NEW OR

EXPANSION

INFRASTRUCTURE

Year 1

5%

Year 2

5%

Year 3

10%

Year 4

10%

Year 5

10%

Year 6

15%

Year 7

15%

Year 8

20%

Year 9

20%

Year 10 and each year thereafter

20%

(I) The following portion of a district public works integrating committee's annual allocation share pursuant to section 164.08 of the Revised Code shall be awarded to subdivisions in the form of interest-free, low-interest, market rate of interest, or blended-rate loans, or local debt support and credit enhancements:

YEAR IN WHICH

MONEYS ARE ALLOCATED

PORTION USED FOR LOANS

OR LOCAL DEBT SUPPORT

AND CREDIT

ENHANCEMENTS

Year 32 and each year thereafter

At least 10%

(J) No project shall be approved under this section unless the project is designed to have a useful life of at least seven years. In addition, the average useful life of all projects for which grants or loans are awarded in each district during a program year shall not be less than twenty years.

Amended by 132nd General Assembly File No. TBD, HB 529, §101.01, eff. 6/29/2018.

Amended by 132nd General Assembly File No. TBD, HB 26, §101.01, eff. 6/30/2017.

Amended by 131st General Assembly File No. TBD, SB 310, §101.01, eff. 8/16/2016.

Amended by 131st General Assembly File No. TBD, HB 53, §101.01, eff. 7/1/2015.

Amended by 130th General Assembly File No. 7, HB 51, §101.01, eff. 7/1/2013.

Amended by 129th General AssemblyFile No.129, SB 314, §1, eff. 9/28/2012.

Effective Date: 09-17-1996 .