Lovettsville Expands Utility Assistance Grant Awards

BY HANNA PAMPALONI hpampaloni@loudounnow.com

The Lovettsville Town Council on Thursday voted to expand the town’s utility assistance program to up to three months of account credit for eligible households.

Town Manager Jason Cournoyer said the purpose of the expansion was twofold – first to entice residents who are eligible for the program but have not applied, to sign up; and secondly, to further help those who have already applied.

Previously, the program provided a credit of up to one month.

The council approved the initial program as part of the spending plan after receiving the first tranche of American Rescue Plan Act funding and allocated $65,136 for it. At the council’s June 8 meeting, it reduced that allocation to $5,136. Only $935.28 has been awarded so far.

The program provides assistance to low- and moderate-income level households by providing credit to the individual water and sewer accounts. The eligibility is based on 70% of the Department of House and Urban Development Washington Metropolitan Statistical Area Median Area Income levels. Based on the number of people in the household, a minimum charge credit of $50.70 is applied per person.

For instance, for a single person household, the income limit is $69,800 and if they are found eligible, they would get $50.70 of utility account credit. If their actual water bill was below that, the overage would roll into the next month. If their actual water bill was above that, they would be charged

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