Funding to help local governments recover from the historic August storms and flooding may be coming to communities sooner than previously thought. Many communities face millions of dollars in damages.
Indiana’s State Treasurer Daniel Elliott announced the Recovery Advance Program for Infrastructure Damage, or RAPID, on Thursday. The program allows affected communities to access up to $1 million in loans to repair publicly owned infrastructure.
Any local unit of government, including cities, towns, counties, school corporations, libraries and municipal utilities, can apply for this funding. The local government unit does not need a disaster declaration to apply.
This funding is meant to fill the gap communities may face before federal or state disaster relief funds reach them.
“These delays often can be a year to two years down the road,” Elliott said. “That's not soon enough.”
The funding is meant to go towards emergency infrastructure repairs, debris removal, damage assessment, reconstruction and any related legal costs. Communities that have already incurred costs may also be reimbursed through this program.
Local units of government would be able to pay back loans with insurance proceeds, federal or state recovery funding, local funds or a combination of those. The loans would have a 2% interest rate and no payments would be due until after the loan term which is two years.
The program is being funded through the Indiana Bond Bank and has a max capacity of $50 million. Elliott said he could go to the board of the Indiana Bond Bank to ask for more funds if needed.
Gary Mayor Eddie Melton said his city is dealing with about 140,000 cubic feet of tree debris and they haven’t reached all parts of the city for cleanup purposes either.
“So we have a lot of work to get done, and resources like this is going to be a tremendous help as we figure out our path forward,” Melton said.
Connersville Mayor Chad Frank said this kind of funding will be a big help to his community that received substantial damage. The town is looking to repair its wastewater facility which could cost his town $4-$5 million.
Elliott said that this new program will remain in place for future disasters and said it could be the first of its kind program in the nation.
The next deadline for local communities to apply for the loans is Sept. 16 with a Sept. 30 closing. Closings will happen about every two weeks after that.
The applications and program guidelines can be found at inbondbank.com.
Contact WFYI Government Reporter Caroline Beck at cbeck@wfyi.org.
