Capital financing

Wastewater utility managers should consider capital funding alternatives that are able to bring more capital to the project and make the project affordable. Utilities can identify and use special assessments or districts to pay for services or capital improvements specific to a portion of the overall service area. The simplicity and fairness of sales taxes have made a local option sales tax a popular method for financing capital projects for municipalities. Incentives should be offered to motivate developers to use required planning or construction techniques. A fee-in-lieu of requirement forces developers to pay toward a capital improvement project that serves the development and surrounding areas. The owner should highlight all the potential benefits of a particular wastewater infrastructure to attract possible additional public agency funding and some underutilized sources of alternative capital funding.