Community Aquifer Protection Assistance (CAPA) Program

Capital Facilities Rate (CFR) and Connection Assistance

Community Development Block Grant Funds (CDBG) are appropriated annually to Spokane County by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and are administered through the County’s Community Services, Housing, and Community Development Department. Subject to the availability of federal funds, CDBG funds are used to assist eligible homeowners in the County Sewer Project areas with the costs of Capital Facilities Rate (CFR) and/or connection of residences to the centralized system.

This assistance may help pay for side sewer connections for eligible low-income and moderate-income homeowners and Capital Facilities Rate (CFR) for eligible low-income homeowners. This financial assistance will be provided in the form of grants for Capital Facilities Rate (CFR), which never have to be repaid and deferred loans for side sewer connections. Deferred loans become due when the ownership on the house changes or the home is refinanced.

To request information on the CAPA Program contact Christy Zuniga at (509) 477-4490.

Glossary of Terms

Assets

Assets are considered a part of the determination as to if a household is low, very low or extremely low-income. For the purposes of this Program liquid assets are cash, funds held in savings accounts, bonds, stocks, certificates of deposit, trust accounts or other investment entities that may be readily drawn upon to meet financial demands.

Capital Facilities Rate (CFR)

Capital Facilities Rate (CFR) is a term and charge procedure which replaces "assessments" in sewering basins created after 1997. The CFR is computed and defined by Spokane County and has many of the same attributes (and meets federal CDBG special assessment definition) as an assessment but may be charged (at the homeowners request) on a monthly basis during an amortization period, rather than annually.

Moderate (Low-Income), Very Low and Extremely Low-Income

Annualized household income that is below the levels established by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). A definition of 1) "Moderate or Low-Income" means that a household is at 80% or less of Median Family Income (MFI) and 2) "Very Low-Income" means that a household is at 50% or less of the Median Family Income, and 3) "Extremely Low-Income" means that a household is at 30% or less of the Median Family Income.

Residence

A Residence is a single-family residence that is used as the permanent, primary domicile (home) of all members of the applicant household. Business or other type of use of the residence must be clearly incidental to the use of structure as a residence.

Spokane County assures that grants will be conducted and administered in compliance with title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000d), the Fair Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 3601-3620), the Age Discrimination Act of 1975, Executive Orders 11063, 11625, 12138, 12432 and 12892, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 794), the Americans with Disabilities Act (title II) and implementing regulations.