BY KATHY WILLIAMS
HERALD DEMOCRAT
More families now qualify for federal weatherization funds that make their homes more energy efficient, providing better comfort and lower utility bills. Texoma Council of Governments is urging middle and low income families to apply for the program because the funding must be spent by Aug. 31, 2011.
TCOG announced this week that it now has more funding through the federal economic stimulus program allocated by Congress in the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
TCOG Executive Director Susan B. Thomas announced that the agency has received additional funding through the U.S. Department of Energy. In July, Thomas informed her governing board of $7.47 million in stimulus money that has or will soon come through TCOG since Congress passed the stimulus act. This does not include more that $19 million in Grayson County highway project funding and other funding directly to entities like school districts.
Weatherization
"This funding will expand TCOG's existing Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) and increase the number of clients the program is able to reach," Thomas said.
WAP provides low to moderate income-eligible homeowners and renters with weatherization applications that reduce utility costs, address air infiltration and increase energy efficiency, TCOG states in a press release.
While the Recovery Act funds are available, the income limit for eligibility increases from 125 percent of federal poverty guidelines to 200 percent. That means a one-person household with a gross income of up to $21,660 can qualify for the program. A family of four with a gross income up to $44,100 can also qualify.
TCOG's WAP program serves clients across 15 counties including TCOG's tri-county region of Cooke, Grayson and Fannin, plus 12 additional Northeast Texas counties.
The Texoma Council of Governments is a voluntary association of the local governments in Cooke, Fannin, and Grayson counties.
Either directly, or through contractors, the Council provides housing, utility assistance, and weatherization services for low-income citizens in the region. The Council also facilitates the delivery of grant funding for homeland security, criminal justice, and transportation needs.
So far, Thomas reported at TCOG's governing board meeting that by June 10 it had expended $1.5 million of the $5.8 million it will have to spend in the 15 counties for weatherization of homes. The money was awarded in two $2.9 million contracts and must be spent by Aug. 31, 2011.
The money is spent with specially trained and supervised local contractors in each of the communities to derive the most economic benefit to local communities, Thomas said when the program first began. ARRA also contains specific "transparency" requirements to enable the public to see how and with whom the money is being spent.
For weatherization program application information, call 903-813-3526. Applications can also be downloaded from TCOG's website.
During the July TCOG meeting, former Denison mayor and President of TCOG Bill Lindsay asked Thomas where TCOG stood with the weatherization program. "I know at one time we were the only agency actually doing the weatherizations," he said.
Thomas smiled and said, "We are no longer the only one, but we are by far the best in the state. Our guys trained the state agency how to do this. They really are the cream of the crop."
Thomas said just as ARRA highway funds went first to "shovel ready" road operations, the weatherization funds went into motion faster in the agencies that already had weatherization programs up and running as TCOG had. In fact, TCOG has another weatherization program in progress that is funded through a program other than ARRA.
Other spending
Among the other TCOG programs or programs funded by grants on which TCOG employees consulted were $62,589 to Meals on Wheels of Texoma (formerly Tri-County Senior Nutrition Project); $847,827 in pubic housing capital program (which matched part of $1.9 million in local money); $100,000 Homelessness Prevention Program; $199,393 in contracts between the state and recipients of Criminal Justice: Justice Assistance Grants; $56,384 Criminal Justice: Violence Against Women Formula Grant in a contract between the state and recipients; $51,000 in Criminal Justice Interlocal Agreement fee-for-services agreement; $354,456 in Community Services Block Grant Program funding.