Legislation gives septic repair grant program a two-year reprieve

Septic tank to be installed (Minnesota Pollution Control Agency | via Flickr CC BY 2.0)

A government program to assist landowners whose sewage treatment plants are failing would be granted an additional two years after legislation passed to Governor Tony Evers on Tuesday.

Upon voting, the Assembly approved a Senate bill to temporarily maintain the program, which grants property owners grants to cover 60% of the cost of repairing or replacing a defective sewage system. Eligible homeowners have an income of less than $ 45,000 a year.

The funding program has been in force since the late 1970s. It was repealed in Wisconsin’s 2017 biennium and will take effect June 30th.

In Evers’ original 2021-2023 state budget, the governor proposed lifting the repeal, extending and expanding the program. Republican majority on the Joint Finance Committee dropped this provision however, in the course of the budget rewriting.

The legislation that the legislature passed on Tuesday (AB-123 in the congregation and SB-84 in the Senate) does not go as far as the canceled budget measure should have done, but rather postpones the entry into force of the repeal until June 30, 2023.

The bill also requires the State Department of Safety and Professional Services to prepare and distribute literature to counties explaining who is eligible for funding under the program. In addition, the department has to pay for a study with recommendations to reduce the risk of septic contamination of ground and surface water, which will be reimbursed to the legislature by the end of 2022.

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Erik Gunn

Senior Reporter Erik Gunn reports and writes on work, business and related topics for the Wisconsin Examiner. He spent 24 years as a freelance writer for Milwaukee Magazine, Isthmus, The Progressive, BNA Inc., and other publications, winning awards for investigative reporting, feature writing, beat reporting, business writing, and commentary. Originally from the East Coast, he previously reported for the Milwaukee Journal after reporting for newspapers in New York State and northern Illinois. He is a graduate of Beloit College (English Comp.) And Columbia School of Journalism. Outside of business hours, he’s the Examiner’s Springsteen and Jackson Browne fanboy and model railroad nerd.

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