• CWSRF Short-Term Interest-Free Financing (STIFF)
• CWSRF Long-Term Subsidized Financing
• CWSRF Hardship Financing
• CWSRF Short-Term Market-Rate Financing (SMRF)
  
• CWSRF Long-Term Market-Rate Financing (LTMRF)
• CWSRF Financing Options Matrix
  

Short-term Interest-Free Financing (STIFF) is available to applicants with projects listed on the Annual Project Priority List (Annual List) of the IUP provided the project meets the following criteria. The project needs to:

• have a project score above any subsidy line on the Annual List in Categories A, B, or Category D;
• have an approved technical planning report;
• meet environmental significance criteria;
• have completed the State Environmental Review Process (SERP);
• have formed any necessary special improvement districts; and
• have construction not be more than 50% complete.

Additional items of note for CWSRF STIFF financing:

• STIFF financing provides interest-free financing for up to three years to allow recipients to design and initiate construction on their water quality projects without the interest expense associated with bond anticipation notes, etc.
• STIFF financing also can be used to pre-finance costs that will be reimbursed from proceeds of loans from other funding sources. CWSRF STIFF funds will not be available to pre-finance any awarded grants.
• All fees are waived for CWSRF short-term interest-free financing.
• STIFF financing is limited to the reserve allocation for long-term financing which is 50% of the project's IUP amount on the Annual List or 50% of the CWSRF-eligible amount as identified in the project’s approved engineering report or latest documented costs, whichever is less.
• Projects eligible for hardship financing may be funded for up to 100% of the documented financing needs, but cannot exceed the project's IUP amount.

Elements and fees associated with Long-Term Subsidized Financing are summarized as follows:

• Bonds issued to fund CWSRF financing will be secured by federal and state match dollars deposited to and held in program financing indentures as security on behalf of certain series of CWSRF bonds.
• Projects receive an interest subsidy either from earnings received from a dedicated reserve allocation equal to one-half of the financing amount or from other program resources.
• Certain hardship communities may receive an interest subsidy of more than one-half the financing amount.
• Other program assets or investment earnings from the reserve allocation will provide an interest subsidy to the recipients, thereby reducing the net interest rate on the financing.
• In instances where the project qualifies for hardship financing, the interest subsidy will be determined based on the net financing rate, effectively providing each recipient a 50% interest subsidy based on the interest rate of the EFC bonds sold for the leveraged financing as may be reduced by applicable tax law.

"Leveraged" financing refers to financing funded from the proceeds of bonds that EFC issues to finance a group or pool of projects. Bonds issued to finance SRF projects will be secured by federal and state match dollars ("Reserve Allocation") deposited to recipient reserve accounts. CWSRF projects financed from bond proceeds will receive reserve allocation equal to approximately one-half of the financed amount.

“Direct" financing refers to financing for recipients who do not qualify for leveraged financing. The funds for these financings are made available from CWSRF resources.

Reduced interest rate or Hardship Financing is available for certain CWSRF projects.  To qualify for financial hardship, wastewater treatment projects need to:

• serve residential populations;
• meet hardship determination criteria based upon the target service charge and median household income;
• be environmentally significant as determined by the Commissioner of DEC; and
• have total project costs not more than $25 million. Reduced interest rate hardship financing is available for up to $18 million in project costs.
  

The CWSRF Hardship Policy describes the reduced interest rate financing program and the procedure used by EFC to determine financial hardship.  To view the Hardship Policy and Application Form, click here.

Short-term Market-Rate Financing (SMRF) is a short-term financing program to assist applicants with projects scoring below the CWSRF IUP Annual List subsidy line or where CWSRF Short-term Interest-Free Financing (STIFF) is limited.  EFC will provide short-term financing at our cost of funds or market rate.  SMRF financing may be provided to applicants with projects on the Final IUP Annual List with scores:

• above the subsidy line requiring short-term financing in excess of the amount available under the CWSRF STIFF program; or
• below the subsidy line that have applied for a Bond Guarantee and are in need of short-term funds; or
• above or below the subsidy line to pre-finance third party grants.

Projects with scores below the subsidy line that receive SMRF financing will not be assigned the 1000 bonus points; however, the project can remain on the Annual List until the project's priority ranking score becomes reachable for subsidized financing in a subsequent IUP financing period.  Financing applications can be submitted anytime.

Long-Term Market-Rate Financing (LTMRF) is available to support eligible projects for which CWSRF subsidized funding is not available.  Bonds issued by recipients and purchased by EFC may be issued for terms of up to thirty years from the financing date.  Financing applications can be submitted anytime.

The LTMRF Program offers recipients access to financing at preferred AAA interest rates.  For recipients who take advantage of the LTMRF Program, their project will be retained on the Annual Project Priority List, so long as to enable these recipients to compete in future years for a CWSRF subsidized funding or a hardship determination, if applicable.