1. (a) After the executive administrator determines the amount of funds available for projects for a fiscal year, the funds will be applied to the list of projects designated to receive funding in the intended use plan. The list will be divided into eight categories as follows:

   1. (1) category A, which shall consist of treatment works projects proposed by applicants with existing populations of 3,000 or fewer;
   2. (2) category B, which shall consist of treatment works projects proposed by applicants with existing populations from 3,001 to 10,000;
   3. (3) category C, which shall consist of treatment works projects proposed by applicants with existing populations from 10,001 to 25,000;
   4. (4) category D, which shall consist of treatment works projects proposed by applicants with existing populations from 25,001 to 100,000;
   5. (5) category E, which shall consist of treatment works projects proposed by applicants with existing populations from 100,001 to 500,000;
   6. (6) category F, which shall consist of treatment works projects proposed by applicants with existing populations of 500,001 or greater;
   7. (7) category G, which shall consist of treatment works projects proposed by applicants for rural hardship communities; and
   8. (8) category H, which shall consist of nonpoint source projects or estuary management projects.
2. (b) Projects for categories A-G shall be listed in priority ranking order with funds required and totaled by category. Projects in category H shall be listed in alphabetical order according to the name of the applicant with funds required and totaled for the category. Project costs will be based on cost estimates, acceptable to the executive administrator, contained in the intended use plan solicitation described in §375.17 of this title (relating to Intended Use Plan) used to establish the project list. Funds required by all projects in each category will then be totaled. Except for category G, a percentage of the total funds required by each category shall be computed based upon the ratio of funds required by each category to the funds required by all categories. The portion of the available funds shall be assigned to the categories based on this computed percentage, provided that no category will be assigned less than 7.0% of the total funds available unless the total needs of the category are less than 7.0%. The funds assigned to category G shall be equal to the amount of federal grants available for the fiscal year plus an equal amount of CWSRF loan funds.
3. (c) After population class percentages have been assigned and available funds distributed among the categories, a funding line shall be drawn within each category to indicate the amount of funds available to each category.
4. (d) After the funding line is drawn, if funds are available pursuant to Subchapter B of this title (relating to Provisions Pertaining to Use of Capitalization Grant Funds), the executive administrator shall notify in writing all applicants above the funding line of the availability of such funds for the fiscal year and shall invite the submittal of applications. Such funds shall be distributed in accordance with the provisions of Subchapter B.
5. (e) After the executive administrator determines that the funds made available pursuant to Subchapter B are sufficiently utilized to satisfy the federal requirements, the executive administrator shall notify in writing all remaining applicants above the funding line of the availability of funds for the fiscal year and shall invite the submittal of applications. Applicants will be allowed four months from the date of the notice of availability of funds or until August 31 of the fiscal year, whichever is sooner, to submit applications for assistance, and will be allowed two additional months to receive a loan commitment.
6. (f) If, at any time during the above-described period an applicant above the funding line submits written notification that it does not intend to submit an application, or if additional funds become available for assistance, the funding line within each category may be moved downward in priority order to accommodate additional projects which would utilize the funds that would otherwise not be committed. The executive administrator will notify such additional applicants in writing and will invite the submittal of applications. Applicants receiving such notice will be allowed four months from the date of the notice or until August 31 of the fiscal year, whichever is sooner, to submit applications for assistance and will be allowed two additional months to receive a commitment.
7. (g) After the six-month period of availability of funds if all available funds are not committed, the executive administrator will return any incomplete applications and move all projects for which no applications or incomplete applications were submitted to the bottom of the ranked list within each category, where they will be placed in priority ranking order. The funding line will be redrawn within each category to utilize the funds remaining within the category.
8. (h) After the funding line is re-drawn, the executive administrator shall notify in writing all applicants above the funding line of the availability of funds for the fiscal year and shall invite the submittal of applications. Applicants will be allowed four months from the date of the notice or until August 31 of the fiscal year, whichever is sooner, submit applications for assistance and will be allowed two additional months to receive a commitment.
9. (i) If funds are available from categories A through H after the executive administrator is able to make a determination that all applicants in each category have had the opportunity to be funded, the remaining funds will be made available to the other categories. The remaining funds will be pooled with any funds left over from the other categories and made available to category A. If no applicants in category A are able to utilize the funds, then the funds will be made available to category B. If no applicants in category B are able to utilize the funds, then the funds will be made available to category C. If no applicants in category C are able to utilize the funds, then the funds will be made available to category D. If no applicants in category D are able to utilize the funds, then the funds will be made available to category E. If no applicants in category E are able to utilize the funds, then the funds will be made available to category F.
10. (j) Loan assistance will not exceed the cost estimate in the intended use plan without board approval. In the event the cost of a project exceeds the funds available, the applicant may seek additional funds from other appropriate board programs.

11. (k) Applications for assistance for category H, nonpoint source or estuary projects, will be funded as follows.

    1. (1) Applications in category H will be funded on a first-come, first-served basis until the available funds have been exhausted.
    2. (2) If, on the first business day of any given month in which funds are available, the total amount of funds required to fund all applications which are complete and ready for scheduling for board action exceeds the amount of funds available, the applications will be considered in the order of the submittal date of the complete application.
    3. (3) If, during any given month for which funds are available, the amount of funds required to fund a particular application are insufficient to completely fund the application, the applicant may seek additional funds from other appropriate board programs.
12. (l) If, there is a shortage of funds, no single applicant may receive more than 30% of the total funds available for projects for a fiscal year.
13. (m) It is the policy of the board to fund all projects listed in the intended use plan whenever possible. To implement this policy, the board may impose a cap on the maximum amount of funds available to any single applicant.
14. (n) If no shortage of funds exists for a fiscal year the executive administrator will invite the submittal of applications from all applicants. After official invitation, applicants will be given until August 31 of that fiscal year to submit an application and an additional two months to receive a loan commitment.
15. (o) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsections (e), (f), and (h) of this section, the executive administrator may request additional information regarding any portion of the application for assistance, after the application has been submitted, without affecting the priority rating status of the application.

Source Note:The provisions of this §375.15 adopted to be effective February 11, 1999, 24 TexReg 769; amended to be effective November 7, 2000, 25 TexReg 10927; amended to be effective October 10, 2001, 26 TexReg 7884.