Officials upbeat about grants for North Havre sewer

The odds look good that a second source of funding can be found to fully pay for a repair of the sewer systems for North Havre, Michele Turville said Tuesday during a public hearing on the project.

Turville, director of community planning for Bear Paw Development Corp, said the application for Community Development Block Grant funds is due May 17.

"You have a good grant story that I can write," she said.

If the grant is approved, the project could move to at least the design stage by this summer, Turville said.

The project will replace force mains that transport sewage from two districts in North Havre across the Milk River en route to the Havre wastewater treatment plant, and an outmoded lift station that pumps the sewage across the river for one district.

The force mains have become exposed over the years due to erosion and shifting of the river bed, and the old lift station for one district is costing thousands of dollars a year in extra repairs and maintenance expenses.

Turville said the Legislature approved the project's application for Treasure State Endowment Program funds — the lawmakers this year approved funding for all TSEP applications — although at a lower rate than hoped for.

The appropriation is for half of the estimated cost, $211,500 of the $423,000.

Turville said the districts had applied for a hardship consideration, which would have required a 1-for-3 dollar match, but the award was for a 1-for-1 match.

The Hill County Commission decided to apply for a CDBG grant to make up the difference, Turville said.

The CDBG funds, if approved, would pay that match, fully funding the project.

If that is approved, Turville said, the county will not have to raise the rates for the districts to pay for the work. The rates for one district could go down due to reduced operation and maintenance expenses after the lift station is upgraded.

The areas in question are Rural Special Improvement District 11, north of the Milk River from about 10th Avenue North to where the Wild Horse Road splits off from River Road, and Rural Special Improvement District 21, north and east of RSID 11.

And, Turville said, the districts meet the requirements of the CDBG program very well. The goal of the program, administered federally by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and in Montana by the state Department of Commerce, is to help areas with low- to moderate-income residents.

The requirement is that at least 51 percent of residents fit that description, Turville said. The last census listed 63.2 percent of North Havre residents in that category.

The relatively high sewer rates in the districts also could help with the application, she said.

The state's target rate for sewer services for a community with the median income of North Havre is $15.67, and RSID 11 is at 195 percent of that at $30.53 a month and RSID 21 is at 204 percent at $31.83 a month.

And the chance that something could break the mains, letting sewage spill into the river, adds priority to the application, she said.

"You guys have an exposed main in the Milk River, and that's a very scary thing," Turville said. "But, for the grant funding programs, that's a very good thing, because there's a high potential that something bad is going to happen."