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Goal 3: Modern Affordable Utilities. “Rural Development will improve the quality of life of rural residents by promoting and providing access to capital and credit for the development and delivery of modern affordable utility services.”
Goal 3 of the mission area plan is specific to the programs administered by the Rural Utilities Service (RUS). The Agency is responsible for delivering electric and telecommunications programs as authorized by the Rural Electrification Act of 1936, as amended; distance learning and telemedicine grant programs as authorized by the Rural Economic Development Act of 1990, as amended; and water and waste programs authorized by the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act, as amended.
Objectives of Goal 3:
3.1 Provide financing for modern, affordable, water and waste disposal services in rural communities.
3.2 Provide financing for modern, affordable telecommunications, including Distance Learning/Telemedicine services, in rural communities.
3.3 Provide financing for modern, affordable electric service to rural communities.
3.4 Direct Rural Development resources to those rural communities and customers with the greatest need.
3.5 Maximize the leveraging of loan funds to increase the number of rural residents assisted by Rural Development programs.
Program Activities supporting Goal 3: Water and Waste, Telecommunications, and Electric
FY 1998 | FY 1999 | FY 2000 | FY 2001* | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Funding (Appropriated) | ||||
Program | $2.837b | $3.396b | $4.292b | $4.261b |
S&E | $65.982m | $65.674m | $68.153m | * |
FTEs (Appropriated) | 764 | 715 | 715 | 0 |
* The FY 2001 budget proposal provides for a combined S&E budget for all Rural Development agencies. The S&E and FTE will no longer be provided separately.
Water and Waste Disposal Direct Loans. Loans are made to public bodies, organizations operated on a not-for-profit basis, Indian tribes on Federal and State Reservations, and other Federally recognized Indian tribes, for the development of storage, treatment, purification, or distribution of water or for the collection, treatment, and disposal of waste in rural areas. A rural area may include an area in any city or town which has a population of not more than 10,000 inhabitants. Applicants must be unable to obtain sufficient credit elsewhere to finance actual needs at reasonable rates and terms. Loans are repayable in not more than 40 years or the useful life of the facility, whichever is less. These loans bear interest not in excess of the current market yield for comparable term municipal obligations. Loans made in areas where: (1) the median household income of the service area falls below the higher of 80 percent of the statewide non-metropolitan median household income or the poverty level; and (2) the project is needed to meet applicable health or sanitary standards, bear interest not in excess of 5 percent.