d License Plate Fund
In 1985, Maryland established the Chesapeake Bay Trust, a private nonprofit grant-making organization dedicated to restoring and protecting the Bay and its tributaries.
Most of the Trust's revenue comes from the Chesapeake Bay and Endangered Species Fund check-off on the state income tax form and from sales of the specialty “Treasures of the Chesapeake” license plate. The former generates an annual average of $600,000; the latter, $550,000. Corporate and private donations added $115,000 in 2004. In 2004, the Trust granted $1.94 million to 516 schools, community groups, nonprofits, and public agencies. Grants ranged in size from $50 to $100,000, and averaged $3,800.
The University of Maryland's Environmental Finance Center is looking at ways to leverage the Trust's funding. More information is available on its website.
Clean Water Management Trust Fund
North Carolina created the Clean Water Management Trust Fund in 1996 (N.C. Gen. Stat. 113A-251 et seq.). The Fund is an independent agency, housed for administrative purposes in the state Department of Environment and Natural Resources. A 21-member board establishes criteria, allocates funds, reviews applications and approves grants. The Fund helps local governments, state agencies, and non-profit organizations finance projects to protect and restore surface water quality. Since its inception, the Fund has awarded 943 grants totaling $711.5 million. It has leveraged more than $1.43 billion in private and other public funds. Money for the Fund comes from state appropriations. The General Assembly, which appropriated $100 million a year for FY 05-06 and 06-07, has appropriated a total of $434.4 million since the program began. We have attached a Trust Fund fact sheet. More information on the Fund is available on its website, www.cwmtf.net.
OTHER STATE PROGRAMS
Information on the following state programs comes from a working draft provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Wastewater Management's State Revolving Fund Branch, Municipal Support Division. We briefly describe some of these methods, and have attached EPA's more detailed information.
Tax Revenue in Washington
Washington's 20-year-old Centennial Clean Water Program is primarily funded with tobacco tax revenue, although it has recently been supplemented with state appropriations. Approximately 9 cents of the state's $1.42 tobacco tax goes to water quality projects, including the financing of planning, implementation, design, purchase, construction, and improvement of water pollution control facilities. The Fund has an annual budget of between $10 million and $12 million.
Lottery Revenue in Oregon
In 1998, Oregon voters approved a constitutional amendment allocating 15% of the state's lottery revenues to support parks and watershed health and habitat conservation. Half of the money goes to the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department and half to a conservation trust fund administered by the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board. Two-thirds of the conservation funds are reserved for capital investment. For FYs 03-05, the watershed board's revenue share was expected to total almost $55 million. However, the legislature allocated about $25 million to other agencies.
Specialty Credit Cards in Connecticut
People's Bank donates 0.5% of the interest on all purchases made with its Long Island Sound Affinity Credit Card to the Long Island Sound Fund. The Department of Environmental Protection's Long Island Sound License Plate Program manages the fund to provide grants for education, research, public access and habitat restoration projects benefiting the Sound.
Planning and Design Assistance in Michigan
Michigan's S2 grant program helps Clean Water State Revolving Fund (SRF) and Strategic Water Quality Initiative Fund (SWQIF) loan applicants prepare projects more quickly. Using up to $40 million of SWQIF funds, with a maximum of $1 million per municipality, Michigan's Department of Environmental Quality covers 90% of the costs incurred to complete a loan application. Recipients have to r