1. (a) The Board will determine annually the amount of capitalization grant funds to be reserved for source water protection projects and will include this information in the intended use plan, provided however that no more than 10% of any cap grant can be so reserved.
2. (b) After the executive administrator determines the amount of funds available for source water protection projects from capitalization grant reserves, state match, repayments or any other source, the available funds will be applied to the list of source water protection projects designated to receive funding in the intended use plan. Projects will be listed in priority ranking order as determined by §371.19(h) of this title (relating to Rating Process). Projects assigned identical rating scores will be listed in alphabetical order.
3. (c) After projects have been ranked, a funding line will be drawn according to the amount of available funds. Project costs will be based on cost estimates, acceptable to the executive administrator, contained in the intended use plan solicitation described in §371.20 of this title (relating to Intended Use Plan) used to establish the project list. The executive administrator may adjust the location of the funding line upward or downward to avoid placing the line within a group of applicants having identical rating scores.
4. (d) Projects above the funding line shall be eligible for assistance. After the funding line is drawn, the executive administrator shall notify in writing all potential applicants above the funding line of the availability of funds and will invite the submittal of applications. If after six months, all available funds are not committed, the executive administrator shall notify the remaining eligible applicants on the list to submit applications in accordance with this subsection and subsections (e)-(g) of this section.
5. (e) Applications for assistance may be submitted at any time after notification by the executive administrator of the availability of funds and will be funded on a first-come, first-served basis. Funds shall be committed to a project designated to receive assistance upon board approval of the application.
6. (f) If the amount of funds required to fund all applications which are complete and ready for scheduling for board action exceeds the amount of funds available for commitment, a fund shortage is considered to exist.
7. (g) Applications which are ready for scheduling for board action at the time a fund shortage occurs will be presented for board action in order of their priority ranking in accordance with §371.19 of this title (relating to Rating Process). Funds will be made available to applicants in priority order until all available funds have been utilized. If a tie for commitment of funding exists among applicants with identical rating scores, the applications will then be funded based on the date and time of receipt of a complete application for assistance.

Source Note:The provisions of this §371.23 adopted to be effective October 13, 1997, 22 TexReg 9893; amended to be effective October 8, 1998, 23 TexReg 10042.