§ 45-22.2-11 - State technical and financial assistance.
SECTION 45-22.2-11
§ 45-22.2-11 State technical and financialassistance. – (a) There is established a program of technical and financial assistance formunicipalities to encourage and facilitate the adoption and implementation ofcomprehensive planning throughout the state. The program is administered by thedirector.
(b) The director shall develop and administer a grantsprogram to provide financial assistance to municipalities for the preparationof comprehensive plans pursuant to this chapter.
(c) Grants may be expended for any purpose directly relatedto the preparation of a municipal comprehensive plan including, withoutlimitation, the conduct of surveys, inventories, and other data-gatheringactivities, the hiring of planning and other technical staff, the retention ofplanning consultants, contracts for planning, and related services, and otherrelated purposes, in order to provide sufficient economies of scale and tobuild planning capacity at the municipal level.
(d) The director shall establish a program of technicalassistance to the various municipalities, utilizing its own staff and resourcesto assist municipalities in the development of a comprehensive plan. It is alsoa function of the director to establish a statewide data base for the use ofthe municipalities. The director also validates data established by themunicipalities in the formulation of their comprehensive plans.
(e) Financial assistance provided to each municipality, notexceeding one hundred twenty-five thousand dollars ($125,000), for thepreparation of the comprehensive plan under this chapter, is apportioned amongthe municipalities by the director as follows:
(1) Fifty percent (50%) of the total funding appropriated isapportioned equally among the thirty-nine (39) municipalities without regard topopulation size or total land area;
(2) Twenty percent (20%) of the total funding appropriated isapportioned among the municipalities on the basis of their respective totalland areas (including inland water bodies) as determined by the director; and
(3) Thirty percent (30%) of the total funding appropriated isapportioned among the municipalities on the basis of their respective totalpopulations (as established by the director based upon the most recentdecennial federal revenue census data available).