AS Title 29, Chapter 60: State Programs

Chapter 60. State Programs. Secs. 29.60.010 — 29.60.080. State equalization of tax resources for municipal services; determination of population; determination of millage rate equivalent; reports; limitation on computation and use of payments; tax equalization account; administration; definitions. [Repealed, § 14 ch 12 SLA 2008.] Secs. 29.60.100 — 29.60.180. State Aid for Miscellaneous Purposes. [Repealed, § 14 ch 12 SLA 2008.] Secs. 29.60.280 — 29.60.310. Allocation and distribution; qualification for minimum payment; proration of payments; time of payment. [Repealed, § 14 ch 12 SLA 2008.] Article 1. Community Facilities Grants. Secs. 29.60.350 — 29.60.375. Safe communities program; base amount account distributions; municipalities organized under federal law; per capita account distribution; minimum entitlement; adjustment of payments; definition. [Repealed, § 14 ch 12 SLA 2008.] Sec. 29.60.400. Grants for community facilities. (a) Within the limits of appropriations for the purpose the department shall make matching grants in accordance with the provisions of AS 29.60.410 — 29.60.440 to municipalities or their nonprofit designees equal to (1) 50 percent of the estimated reasonable costs of construction of municipal civic, convention, and community recreation centers; and (2) 50 percent of the cost of feasibility studies relating to the construction of municipal civic, convention, and community recreation centers. (b) A grant may be made under this section only to a municipality with the power to implement the study or project for which the grant is authorized or to its nonprofit designee. A grant for only one study and one project may be awarded to a municipality or its designee under this section. (c) In this section, “costs of construction” means, in addition to costs directly related to a project, the sum of all costs of financing and carrying out the project, including the costs of all necessary studies, surveys, plans and specifications, architectural, engineering, or other special services, acquisition of real property, site preparation and development, purchase, construction, reconstruction, and improvement of real property and the acquisition of machinery and equipment necessary to the project; an allocable portion of the administrative and operating expenses of the grantee; and the cost of financing the project, including interest on bonds issued to finance the project, the cost of indemnity and surety bonds, premiums on insurance, legal fees, fees and expenses of trustees, depositaries, financial advisors, and the costs associated with the issuance of bonds. It does not include the cost of feasibility studies. Sec. 29.60.410. Grant procedures. (a) An application for a grant under AS 29.60.400 shall be made in a form prescribed by the commissioner. (b) A grant shall be allotted in accordance with an agreement made between the commissioner on behalf of the state and the grantee. The agreement may include any provision agreed upon by the parties and must include in substance the following provisions: (1) estimates of reasonable costs of the study or project as approved by the commissioner after consultation with the Department of Transportation and Public Facilities; (2) a schedule of disbursements of money from the grant if the commissioner determines that the grant money is not to be disbursed in one sum; (3) agreement by the grantee (A) to proceed with and complete the proposed study or project expeditiously; (B) not to discontinue operation or dispose of all or part of a community facility for which it receives a grant without the approval of the commissioner; (C) to apply for and make reasonable efforts to secure federal assistance that may be available for the study or project, subject to any conditions the commissioner may require to maximize the amounts of that assistance available for all projects in the state; (D) to provide for payment of the grantee's share of the cost of the study or project; (E) that, if federal assistance for a study or project becomes available to the grantee that was not included in the calculation of the amount of the grant, the value of the federal assistance shall be subtracted from the total value of the project and the balance shall be equally divided between the grantee and the state; (4) alteration or modification of an approved study or project; (5) alteration or modification of an existing facility that would have qualified for a grant at the time of initial construction if AS 29.60.400 — 29.60.440 had been in effect; (6) remedies in case of failure to perform the agreement or noncompliance with regulations adopted under AS 29.60.420 . (c) The commissioner shall require in negotiations and in each grant agreement that continued maintenance of the community facility is the responsibility of the municipality. The municipality must show the feasibility of continuing to maintain the facility before state money may be authorized for a grant. Sec. 29.60.420. Regulations. (a) [Repealed, § 35 ch 126 SLA 1994.] (b) The commissioner shall adopt regulations to carry out the purposes of AS 29.60.400 — 29.60.440. Sec. 29.60.430. Allocation of money. If the amount of money appropriated by the legislature for grants under AS 29.60.400 is not adequate to satisfy amounts required for approved grant applications, money shall be allocated on the basis of priority established by regulations of the department. Sec. 29.60.440. Limitation. AS 29.60.400 — 29.60.440 do not require that a recipient of a grant for a feasibility study must proceed with construction of the project, regardless of whether the project is determined to be feasible. Article 2. Shared Fisheries Business Taxes. Sec. 29.60.450. Fisheries business tax allocation. (a) A municipality may receive a fisheries business tax allocation under this section if the municipality demonstrates to the department that the municipality suffered significant effects from fisheries business activities during the base year. (b) The amount transmitted each fiscal year (1) under AS 43.75.137 shall be apportioned by the department to each management area based on the ratio of the management area's production value to the total production value for all of the management areas; the department shall allocate the amount available for each management area to each municipality in that management area based on the demonstrated effects on the municipality of fisheries business activities, the commercial fishing vessel days in that municipality, or both; (2) under AS 43.77.060 (d) shall be apportioned by the department to each management area based on the ratio of the management area's fishery resource landing tax production value to the total fishery resource landing tax production value for all of the management areas; the department shall allocate the amount available for each management area to each municipality in that management area based on the demonstrated effects on the municipality of fisheries activities that are subject to the tax levied under AS 43.77 . (c) A municipality that receives a tax allocation under this section shall use the tax allocation to help reduce the effect of fisheries business activities on the municipality, which may include the expenses of any municipal service. (d) At the request of the department, an applicant or a recipient of a tax allocation shall provide the department with the assistance and information available to the municipality that is necessary for the department to carry out the department's duties under this section relating to that municipality. (e) The department may adopt regulations necessary to carry out the provisions of this section. (f) In this section, (1) “base year” means the calendar year that precedes the application deadline for the tax allocation year; (2) “commercial fishing vessel day” means a day for which a fishing vessel licensed under AS 16.05.490 pays the municipality a moorage, harbor, or docking fee; (3) “effect” means the result of fisheries business activities on the municipality's (A) population; (B) employment; (C) finances; (D) air and water quality; (E) fish and wildlife habitats; and (F) ability to provide essential public services, including health care, public safety, education, transportation, marine garbage collection and disposal, solid waste disposal, utilities, and government administration; (4) “fisheries business activity” means activity related to (A) fishing, including the catching and sale of fisheries resources; (B) vessel moorage and vessel and gear maintenance; (C) preparing fisheries resources for transportation; and (D) processing fisheries resources for sale by freezing, icing, cooking, salting, or other method and includes canneries, cold storages, freezer ships, and processing plants; (5) “fishery resource landing tax production value” has the meaning given the term “value” by AS 43.77.200 ; (6) “management area” means one of the geographical units designated by the Board of Fisheries by regulation adopted under AS 16.05.251 (a)(2) for the management of commercial fisheries of the state; (7) “production value” means the weight of the fish and shellfish produced by fisheries businesses as that term is defined by AS 43.75.290 . Article 3. Oil and Hazardous Substance Municipal Impact Assistance. Sec. 29.60.500. Purpose and policy. (a) The legislature finds and declares that a major release of oil or hazardous substances into the environment presents a real and substantial threat to the economy and public welfare of the municipalities, villages, and school districts that are affected by the release and the resultant activities to contain and clean up the release. (b) The legislature concludes that it is in the best interest of the state and its citizens to provide a readily available fund for the payment of the expenses incurred by municipalities, villages, and school districts to mitigate the social and economic effects that arise out of a major release of oil or hazardous substances and resultant cleanup activities. (c) It is the intent of the legislature and declared to be the public policy of the state that money to defray the cost of social and economic effects on municipalities, villages, and school districts arising from a major release of oil or a hazardous substance and resultant cleanup activities and to pay for efforts to abate that release will be immediately available upon a determination that the release was sudden and that it exceeds 2,500 barrels of oil, or exceeds an amount of a hazardous substance that when released into the environment presents a real and substantial threat to the economy and public welfare of the municipalities, villages, or school districts affected by it. Sec. 29.60.510. Municipal impact grants authorized. (a) Subject to (b) of this section, the commissioner may use money from the oil and hazardous substance release prevention and response fund to make grants to a municipality, village, or school district that is affected by the release or by the response to the release and that demonstrates that the release or response to the release involves extraordinary expenditures that are beyond the reasonable capability of the municipality, village, or school district to meet from the current revenue sources of the municipality, village, or school district if a release of oil exceeds 2,500 barrels of oil, or if a release of a hazardous substance exceeds an amount of a hazardous substance that, when released into the environment, presents a threat to the economy and public welfare of the municipalities, villages, and school districts affected by it at least equivalent in effect to the effect of a release of oil in an amount defined by this subsection. (b) For each release or threatened release of oil or a hazardous substance (1) for which the commissioner of environmental conservation may, under AS 46.08.045 , expend money from the oil and hazardous substance release response account in the fund, and subject to agreement with the commissioner of environmental conservation as to the amount of money in the fund that may be used by the department to make grants, the commissioner may expend not more than $10,000,000 of the unrestricted balance of the oil and hazardous substance release response account in the fund for grants for purposes described in AS 29.60.520 ; if the commissioner and the commissioner of environmental conservation do not agree on the amount of money in the response account in the fund that may be used by the department to make grants under AS 29.60.500 — 29.60.599 for release or threatened release of oil or a hazardous substance, the governor shall make the determination; (2) for which money may not be expended from the response account under (1) of this subsection, and subject to appropriation of money in the fund that may be used by the department to make grants, the commissioner may expend not more than the amount appropriated from the oil and hazardous substance release prevention account in the fund for grants for purposes described in AS 29.60.520 . (c) Notwithstanding the limitation of AS 37.07.080 (e) against the transfer of money between appropriations, when the commissioner and the commissioner of environmental conservation have agreed to the amount of money in the oil and hazardous substance release response account that may be used by the department to make grants, or when that determination has been made by the governor, the commissioner of environmental conservation shall promptly transfer that amount to the department for use under AS 29.60.500 — 29.60.599. (d) For money that has been transferred under (c) of this section, if within any one-year period thereafter the commissioner does not use the money to make a grant under AS 29.60.500 — 29.60.599, the commissioner shall return the unexpended amount transferred under (c) of this section to the oil and hazardous substance release response account of the fund. Sec. 29.60.520. Purposes of municipal impact grants. (a) A grant made under AS 29.60.510 may be made (1) only for (A) provision of subsistence resources on which the residents of the municipality, village, or school district rely for subsistence needs; (B) the additional costs of a reasonable and appropriate function or service, including administrative expenses for the incremental costs of providing the function or service, limited to: (i) public health and welfare functions and services, including hospital, clinic, and emergency medical services; alcohol, drug abuse, and mental health services; family support services; and the operation of waste disposal systems and water quality improvement systems; (ii) public safety functions and services, including police protection, search and rescue, and fire protection; (iii) public utility functions and services, including the operation of electric generating plants and distribution systems, water supply systems, telephone systems, and fuel distribution systems; and (iv) housing functions and services, limited to leasing or making other arrangements for temporary housing to be occupied by persons associated with containment or cleanup of the release; (C) costs associated with leasing transportation facilities for use in activities associated with the containment or cleanup; (D) costs of repair or replacement of equipment or a capital asset associated with a function or service set out in (B) of this paragraph the useful life of which has been substantially reduced by use associated with the containment or cleanup; and (2) to compensate the municipality, village, or school district for (A) the reduction of revenue attributable to the release of the oil or hazardous substance; and (B) the actual costs of projects or activities that are delayed or lost because of the efforts of the municipality, village, or school district responding to the release or associated with the containment or cleanup of oil or the hazardous substance. (b) If money received under this section is used for a capital expenditure, the commissioner may require the municipality, village, or school district that acquired the item as a capital expenditure to transfer it to the state at the end of the period during which the item is actually used for spill response if the commissioner finds that retention of the item would confer an inappropriate benefit on the municipality, village, or school district. Sec. 29.60.530. Criteria to evaluate grant applications. (a) In determining whether an expenditure or proposed expenditure by a municipality, village, or school district is eligible for a grant under AS 29.60.510 , the department shall consider the (1) degree to which the effect on the municipality, village, or school district is directly caused by the oil or hazardous substance release or the response to the release; (2) availability of money to the recipient from other sources that can meet the costs of providing the functions or services; and (3) severity of the effect addressed in the grant application. (b) The department may reject an application for a grant under AS 29.60.510 or approve an application for a grant in an amount that is less than the amount requested by a municipality, village, or school district if the department determines that payment of the amount requested is not warranted under (a) of this section. (c) The department shall adopt, by regulation, criteria by which to rank all or a portion of applications for the purpose of establishing the priority order of awarding grants if money requested by eligible municipalities, villages, and school districts under this section exceeds the amount available. The criteria must be based on the elements set out in (a) of this section. If the total amount of money requested by eligible municipalities, villages, and school districts under this section exceeds the amount available, the department shall rank applications for the purpose of establishing the priority order of awarding grants in accordance with the regulations. Sec. 29.60.540. Limitations on uses of grants by municipalities and villages. (a) A municipality may not use a grant made under AS 29.60.510 to reduce current municipal tax rates or to retire its existing bonded indebtedness. (b) Money received by a municipality, village, or school district under AS 29.60.500 — 29.60.599 may not be used for a capital improvement, as that term is defined in AS 46.08.900 . Sec. 29.60.550. Records. The department shall maintain records showing the income and expenses of grants made under AS 29.60.510 , and shall develop procedures governing the expenditure of, and accounting for, money expended. Sec. 29.60.560. Impact assessment and remedial plans. (a) For each disaster emergency declared by the governor under AS 26.23.020 based on a release of oil or a hazardous substance or for each other release of oil or a hazardous substance for which money may be expended under AS 46.08.040 , the commissioner, after consulting with and securing the written approval of the attorney general and after consulting with other state agencies, shall (1) make an assessment of the social and economic effects of the release of the oil or hazardous substance; (2) develop a plan to (A) recover the cost of release-related expenditures; and (B) mitigate the social and economic effects of the release of the oil or hazardous substance on the municipalities, the villages, the school districts, and the region in which the discharge occurs. (b) The commissioner may make the assessment and plans required by (a) of this section by (1) using staff of the department; (2) contracting with a municipality or other entity; or (3) authorizing a municipality or other entity to perform that work and supporting that effort by a grant. (c) Only one assessment and one plan may be completed under this section for each declaration of a disaster emergency. (d) The commissioner may pay the costs of the assessment, the plan, and the recovery of the cost of release-related expenditures from money available in the fund. (e) Expenditures made under this section may be made only from the amount transferred to the commissioner under AS 29.60.510 (c), unless (1) the commissioner and the commissioner of environmental conservation mutually agree that payment may be made from money in the oil and hazardous substance release response account in the oil and hazardous substance release prevention and response fund not transferred under AS 29.60.510 (c); or (2) the commissioner pays them from another source. Sec. 29.60.590. Regulations. The commissioner and the commissioner of environmental conservation shall jointly develop and adopt regulations that are necessary to implement the purposes of AS 29.60.500 — 29.60.599. Sec. 29.60.599. Definitions. In AS 29.60.500 — 29.60.599, (1) “barrel” when used with reference to oil has the meaning given in AS 43.20.144 ; (2) “containment and cleanup” has the meaning given in AS 46.08.900 ; (3) “disaster emergency” means a disaster declared by the governor under AS 26.23.020 ; (4) “fund” means the oil and hazardous substance release prevention and response fund established by AS 46.08.010 ; (5) “hazardous substance” has the meaning given in AS 46.09.900 ; (6) “oil” and “release” have the meanings given in AS 46.08.900 ; (7) “school district” means a borough school district, a city school district, or a regional educational attendance area under AS 14 ; (8) “service” (A) means (i) a function performed or service provided by a municipality under a duty or power authorized by this title or by another provision of law authorizing a municipality to perform functions or provide services; (ii) a comparable function performed or service provided by a village; or (iii) a function performed or service provided by a school district; (B) includes functions not previously performed and services not previously provided by the municipality or village; (9) “village” means a place within the unorganized borough or within a borough if the power, function, or service for which a grant application is submitted under AS 29.60.500 — 29.60.599 is not exercised or provided by the borough on an areawide or nonareawide basis at the time the grant application is submitted, that (A) has irrevocably waived, in a form approved by the Department of Law, any claim of sovereign immunity that might arise in connection with the use of grant money under this chapter; and (B) has (i) a council organized under 25 U.S.C. 476 (sec. 16 of the Indian Reorganization Act); (ii) a traditional village council recognized by the United States as eligible for federal aid to Indians; or (iii) a council recognized by the commissioner under regulations adopted by the department to determine and give official recognition of village entities under AS 44.33.755 (b). Article 4. Human Services Community Match Program. Sec. 29.60.600. Human services community matching grants. (a) Within the limits of appropriations for the purpose, the Department of Health shall, upon application, make a matching grant to a qualified municipality equal to 70 percent of the estimated reasonable costs of providing essential human services through private nonprofit agencies within the municipality, including services to persons who travel to the municipality from their residences elsewhere in the state. (b) To qualify for a grant under this section, a municipality is required to (1) provide from other sources 30 percent of the estimated reasonable costs of providing the services to be funded by the grant; other sources may include federal or municipal money or money from other private or public sources; in this paragraph, “municipal money” includes money derived from appropriations, allocations, entitlements, grants, or other payments from the state other than the state grant under this section but does not include locally contributed staff hours, material, equipment, or other in-kind contributions; (2) comply with the grant application procedure and contractual agreements under AS 29.60.610 ; and (3) establish and consult with a citizens' advisory group, the majority of whose membership consists of persons who do not hold elected municipal office, concerning priorities and allocations among services funded under this section. (c) A city may not receive a human services matching grant during a fiscal year to provide a specific service if, during that same year, the borough within which it is located has received a grant for the same service. A borough may not receive a grant during a fiscal year to provide a particular service if, during that same year, a city within the borough has received a grant for the same service. Sec. 29.60.610. Grant procedure; contract. (a) If a qualified municipality wishes to apply for a grant under AS 29.60.600 , the municipality shall apply for a grant for a fiscal year by submitting a form prescribed by the commissioner of health before October 1 of the preceding fiscal year. The application must generally describe the services that are proposed to be funded with the grant and include the following information: (1) a statement that each proposed service will meet the goals established under AS 47.75.010 and an explanation of why the service is necessary to prevent or alleviate serious mental or physical hardship; this explanation must be supported by a needs assessment carried out by the municipality; (2) a description of the categories of individuals to whom the services are to be provided; and (3) an estimate of the expenditures required for each of the services to be provided. (b) A human services community matching grant shall be allotted in accordance with an agreement made between the grantee and the commissioner of health on behalf of the state. The agreement may include any provision agreed upon by the parties and must include the following provisions: (1) a statement by the grantee that the match requirement of AS 29.60.600 has been met by the grantee; (2) estimates of reasonable costs of funding the services; and (3) a requirement that no more than five percent of the grant money received under AS 29.60.600 may be used for municipal administrative costs connected with distributing the grant money to the private nonprofit agencies providing the services. Sec. 29.60.620. Allocation of money. (a) If the amount of money appropriated by the legislature for human services community matching grants under AS 29.60.600 is not adequate to satisfy amounts required for the qualified municipalities who have applied for grants, the money shall be allocated proportionately among the qualified municipalities for which a grant has been approved under AS 29.60.600 — 29.60.650 based on the relationship the population of each municipality bears to the total population of the qualified municipalities for which a grant has been approved under AS 29.60.600 — 29.60.650. (b) For purposes of (a) of this section, population shall be determined by the Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development based on the latest figures of the United States Bureau of the Census or other reliable population data. If a city within a borough has an approved grant for a service to be provided on an areawide basis, the allocation under (a) of this section shall be based on the population of the borough. Sec. 29.60.650. Definitions. In AS 29.60.600 — 29.60.650, (1) “essential human services” and “services” have the meaning given “social services” in AS 47.75.060 except that they include only services whose unavailability would subject persons needing the services to serious mental or physical hardship; (2) “municipality” means a (A) city whose population is over 20,000; (B) unified municipality whose population is over 100,000; or (C) second class borough whose population is over 65,000; population for purposes of this paragraph shall be determined by the Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development. Article 5. Bulk Fuel Bridge Loan Fund and Program. Sec. 29.60.660. Bulk fuel bridge loan fund and program. [Repealed, § 6, ch 46, SLA 2012. For current law, see AS 42.25.299 .] Article 6. Reimbursement for Costs of Port and Harbor Bonds. Sec. 29.60.700. Reimbursement for costs of municipal capital projects. (a) Subject to appropriations for the purpose, during each fiscal year, the Department of Transportation and Public Facilities shall allocate to each municipality an amount to reimburse the costs paid by the municipality during the immediately preceding fiscal year for the principal and interest on outstanding debt for projects listed in (b) of this section. An allocation may be made to a municipality only if (1) the debt was incurred by the municipality before July 1, 2007, or, if the debt is for a small boat harbor, before July 1, 2012; and (2) the project or facility financed with the debt proceeds is located in the municipality and the project or facility is operated or controlled by the municipality. (b) The Department of Transportation and Public Facilities may make an allocation to a municipality under (a) of this section only for reimbursement of costs incurred for the following construction and renovation projects and only for reimbursement of total project costs incurred up to the following amounts: PROJECT Valdez$ 3,013,500 Nome1,000,000 Anchorage (Port of Anchorage expansion)15,000,000 Matanuska-Susitna Borough (deep water port and road upgrade)10,000,000 Unalaska (LSA small boat harbor)5,000,000 Aleutians East Borough/Akutan (small boat harbor)4,000,000 Lake and Peninsula Borough/Chignik (dock project)1,000,000 Aleutians East Borough/False Pass (small boat harbor)2,000,000 Fairbanks North Star Borough (Eielson AFB schools, major maintenance and upgrades)4,500,000 City of Fairbanks (fire headquarters station replacement)7,500,000 Saxman (public safety building)1,500,000 Article 7. Harbor Facility Grant Program. Sec. 29.60.800. Harbor facility grant fund. (a) There is established the harbor facility grant fund consisting of money appropriated to the fund. Each fiscal year, the legislature may appropriate money to the fund from the watercraft fuel tax account ( AS 43.40.010 (f)) and from the fisheries business tax collected under AS 43.75.015 after payments to municipalities are made under AS 43.75.130 . The legislature may make other appropriations to the fund. The legislature may appropriate to the fund income earned on money in the fund. (b) Money appropriated to the harbor facility grant fund may be expended by the Department of Transportation and Public Facilities for harbor facility grants without further appropriation. Money in the fund does not lapse and remains available for expenditure in successive fiscal years. (c) Each fiscal year, the Department of Transportation and Public Facilities shall use an amount equal to at least 50 percent of the balance of the harbor facility grant fund on June 30 of the preceding fiscal year for harbor facility grants. Sec. 29.60.810. Grant applications. A municipality or regional housing authority that owns a harbor facility may submit to the Department of Transportation and Public Facilities an application for a harbor facility grant to be used for construction, expansion, major repair, or major maintenance of a harbor facility. The application must include information about the project requested by the department. For a proposed project to be eligible for a grant, the municipality or regional housing authority must provide evidence acceptable to the department that the (1) proposed project is a capital improvement project and not part of a preventive maintenance program or regular custodial care program; (2) municipality or regional housing authority will provide 50 percent of the total project cost as matching funds for the state grant and that money received by the municipality or regional housing authority from the state will not be used for the matching funds except money received under (A) AS 29.60.850 — 29.60.879 (community assistance program); (B) AS 29.60.450 , AS 43.75.130 , and 43.75.137 (shared fisheries business taxes); (C) AS 43.52.200 — 43.52.295 (excise tax on overnight accommodations on commercial passenger vessels); and (D) a transfer agreement between the state and a municipality for a sale under AS 35.10.120 ; (3) municipality or regional housing authority has secured and will maintain adequate property loss insurance for the replacement cost of the harbor facility or has an adequate program of insurance; (4) municipality or regional housing authority has a preventive maintenance plan for the harbor facility and will be adequately adhering to the preventive maintenance plan after completion of the proposed project; and (5) harbor facility has safety ladders installed on the harbor facility's floats or the proposed project will include safety ladders on the harbor facility's new floats. Sec. 29.60.820. Award of grants. (a) The Department of Transportation and Public Facilities may award a harbor facility grant during a fiscal year only for a proposed project eligible under AS 29.60.810 based on a grant application filed during the immediately preceding fiscal year before February 1. The total amount of grant money made available to a municipality or regional housing authority during a fiscal year may not exceed $5,000,000. (b) The Department of Transportation and Public Facilities shall award a grant for every proposed project eligible under AS 29.60.810 that is for repair and major maintenance of a harbor facility that was transferred by the state to a municipality or regional housing authority before grants may be made for other proposed harbor facility projects during a fiscal year. However, after the department makes a grant for the repair and major maintenance of a harbor facility under this subsection, no other grants for the repair and major maintenance of that facility may be made during the same or any other fiscal year. (c) The Department of Transportation and Public Facilities shall establish priorities for the award of grants for proposed harbor facility projects under (b) of this section and priorities for the award of grants for other proposed harbor facility projects, with new construction projects having the lowest priority. The department shall award grants in the order of priority established. In establishing priorities, the department shall include at least the following, in the order listed: (1) the extent to which the municipality or regional housing authority can demonstrate that it will have sufficient revenue to operate and maintain the harbor facility in the future without state aid; (2) public safety and emergency factors; (3) the amount spent by the municipality or regional housing authority on maintenance of the harbor facility; (4) other options that would reduce or eliminate the need for the proposed project; and (5) whether alternative harbor projects would better serve the public interest. (d) The Department of Transportation and Public Facilities may suggest modifications to a project request to achieve cost savings or to better serve the public interest and, if the municipality or regional housing authority agrees, award the harbor facility grant for the proposed project as modified. Sec. 29.60.830. Definition. In AS 29.60.800 — 29.60.830, “regional housing authority” means a regional housing authority established under AS 18.55.996 . Article 8. Community Assistance Program. Sec. 29.60.850. Community Assistance Fund. (a) The community assistance fund is established in the general fund for the purpose of making community assistance payments to municipalities, reserves, and communities for any public purpose. The fund consists of appropriations. Income earned on money in the fund may be appropriated to the fund. Money in the fund does not lapse. (b) Each fiscal year, the legislature may appropriate to the community assistance fund money received by the state during the previous calendar year under AS 43.20.030 (c). The amount may not exceed the greater of (1) $30,000,000; or (2) the amount that, when added to the fund balance on June 30 of the previous fiscal year, equals $90,000,000. (c) The balance in the community assistance fund shall be determined on June 30 of each year. If the fund balance is at least $15,000,000, without further appropriation, the department shall distribute one-third of that amount as community assistance payments for the immediately following fiscal year. Otherwise, no payments may be made. (d) Notwithstanding the guidelines in (b) of this section, the legislature may appropriate any amount to the community assistance fund. Nothing in this section creates a dedicated fund. Sec. 29.60.855. Basic community assistance payments. (a) The basic amount used for determining the basic community assistance payment for a fiscal year is $300,000. However, if the amount available for payments for that fiscal year under AS 29.60.850 (c) is less than the amount necessary to make the payments under (b) of this section, the department shall reduce the basic amount pro rata. (b) Except as provided in (c) of this section, the basic community assistance payment for a fiscal year equals, for each (1) unified municipality, the sum of the amounts calculated under (2) and (3) of this subsection, rounded to the nearest dollar; (2) borough, the basic amount, rounded to the nearest dollar; (3) city and eligible reserve, one-fourth of the basic amount, rounded to the nearest dollar; (4) eligible community in the unorganized borough, one-twelfth of the basic amount, rounded to the nearest dollar; (5) eligible community in a unified municipality or borough, one- nineteenth of the basic amount, rounded to the nearest dollar. (c) The basic community assistance payment amount for a succeeding municipality formed when two or more municipalities merge, consolidate, or unify after January 1, 2002, equals the sum of the amounts each of the former municipalities would receive under (b) of this section calculated as if the merger, consolidation, or unification had not occurred. Sec. 29.60.860. Per capita payment increases. (a) Subject to (b) of this section, if the amount available for distribution under AS 29.60.850 (c) exceeds the amount needed to fully fund all the basic community assistance payments, the balance shall be distributed on a per capita basis to municipalities, to reserves, and to communities in the unorganized borough. (b) The per capita amount distributed to each community in the unorganized borough may not, when added to the basic community assistance payment for that community, exceed the basic amount calculated under AS 29.60.855 (b)(3). If the per capita distribution for a community in the unorganized borough, when added to the basic community assistance payment for that community, would exceed the basic amount calculated under AS 29.60.855 (b)(3), the excess amount shall be distributed on a per capita basis to other communities in the unorganized borough. (c) For purposes of this section, the population of a municipality, reserve, or community shall be determined by using the numbers of permanent fund dividend recipients or other population data that the department determines is reliable. For purposes of determining the population of a borough, the population of each city in the borough shall be deducted from the total borough population. Sec. 29.60.865. Eligibility requirements for reserves and communities. (a) The department, with advice from the Department of Law, shall determine whether there is in each community or reserve an incorporated nonprofit entity or a Native village council that will agree to receive and spend the community assistance payment. If there is more than one qualified entity in a reserve or community in the unorganized borough, the department shall pay the money to the entity that the department finds most qualified to receive and spend the money on behalf of the reserve or community. The department may not make a community assistance payment to a Native village council unless the council waives immunity from suit for claims arising out of activities of the council related to the payment. A waiver of immunity from suit under this section must be on a form provided by the Department of Law. If there is no qualified incorporated nonprofit entity or Native village council in a reserve or community that is willing to receive the community assistance payment and use the payment on behalf of that reserve or community, the payment for that reserve or community may not be paid. Neither this section nor any action taken under it enlarges or diminishes the governmental authority or jurisdiction of a Native village council. (b) The department may make a community assistance payment on behalf of a community in a borough or unified municipality only to the municipality for payment by the municipality to an incorporated nonprofit entity or Native village council that has been approved by the assembly and meets the requirements of (a) of this section. The department shall have written evidence of the assembly approval. If there is more than one qualified entity in a community in a borough or unified municipality, one of the entities may receive the entire payment, or the payment may be shared between two or more of the qualified entities, as determined by the assembly. (c) A community in a borough or unified municipality is eligible for a community assistance payment only if at least three of the following services are generally available to all residents of the community and each of the three services, in any combination, are provided by one or more qualifying incorporated nonprofit entities or a Native village council or are substantially paid for by the residents of the community through taxes, charges, or assessments levied or authorized by the borough or unified municipality: (1) fire protection; (2) emergency medical; (3) water and sewer; (4) solid waste management; (5) public road or ice road maintenance; (6) public health; (7) search and rescue. Sec. 29.60.879. Definitions. In AS 29.60.850 — 29.60.879, (1) “community” means a place in the unorganized borough, in a borough, or in a unified municipality that is not incorporated as a municipality, that is not a reserve, and in which 25 or more individuals reside as a social unit; (2) “reserve” means a place that is organized under federal law as an Indian reserve that existed before enactment of 43 U.S.C. 1618(a) and is continued in existence under that subsection.