Financial assistance available to west Lincoln residents for sewer hookup

Published 1:03 am Friday, July 21, 2017

Meetings scheduled to aid homeowners in application process

HUSTONVILLE  – Construction of the new sewer lines in west Lincoln County is complete and soon homeowners will begin the process of connecting to the new system. But before doing so, residents will have an opportunity to apply for financial assistance that could cover some of the cost associated with the connection, as well as retiring septic tanks.

In anticipation of this, the Lincoln County Sanitation District mailed a packet of information to each resident this week, detailing exactly what homeowners will need to do in order to connect to the new system.

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The packet provides a brief overview of the Homeowner’s Assistance Program (HAP)  – made available through the Kentucky Rural Community Assistance Partnership (RCAP) and Kentucky Division of Water.

“The Lincoln County sewer ordinance mandates that homeowners within 200 feet of the new sanitary sewer must connect to the system. Since this can be an expensive process, this program was created to alleviate some of that cost,” the document states.

Applications for assistance are included in the packet, as well as instructions on where to send them. “Limited funding is available for this program and applications are funded in the order in which they are received,” the document states. Homeowners have until Sept. 1 to submit applications for review by RCAP.

Sanitation Chairman Bill Payne said homeowners within 200 feet of the new system are eligible to receive up to 20 percent cost coverage, not to exceed $400, and low-to-moderate income households could receive up to a 90 percent cost coverage, not to exceed $1,800. RCAP will review the applications and determine eligibility, he said.

“So that would cover basically everyone else,” Payne said. “It would not cover businesses, but it should cover every body else.”

Another form of financial assistance is available to homeowners with septic tanks that need to be decommissioned, Payne said.

“If the homeowner currently has a metal or plastic septic tank, they could be eligible for 100 percent cost coverage to pump out the tank and decomission the septic tank,” he said.

Decomissioning is basically filling the tank in with gravel or soil, he added.

“Metal septic tanks sooner or later will rust out and collapse and plastic is not a whole lot better. So if they have those, and the plumber should be able to determine that, they can basically get that decommissioned for nothing,” Payne said.

Also included in the packet is a list of master plumbers located in Lincoln and Boyle counties who could connect homeowners to the system, as well as a list of certified septic system installers in Lincoln County.

“There’s also a list of septic tank pumpers,” Payne added.

To further aid homeowners in the connection and application process, two public meetings have been scheduled to answer questions and assist in filling out the proper paperwork.

The first meeting will be held Aug. 1 from 3 to 7 p.m. at the New Hope Baptist Church in the Fellowship Hall. The second meeting will be held Aug. 8 from 3 to 7 p.m. at the same location. New Hope Baptist Church is located at 61 Roman Road (fronting on McCormack’s Church Road).

“Those meetings aren’t set up to be a presentation necessarily, they’re set up pretty much to answer questions about this assistance program and to help homeowners fill out the applications,” Payne said.

If homeowners are anxious to get connected to the system, Payne said they may want to bypass the assistance program since the application process will take a few weeks for RCAP to review and return.

Representatives from Bluegrass Greensource will be available during the meetings, he added. Bluegrass Greensource has also set up a website online that can be found at www.lincolncountytapon.org.

SO YOU KNOW

Additional copies of the informational packets can be found at Hustonville City Hall, Lincoln County Courthouse Judge Executive’s Office, Lincoln County Health Department and the Lincoln County Extension Office. To find this information and more online, visit www.lincolncountytapon.org.