2. a. There is established in the Department of Environmental Protection a dedicated, nonlapsing fund, designated the “Dam, Lake and Stream Project Fund.” Moneys in the fund shall be used for the purpose of supplementing the department’s capital construction programs that provide funding for dam restoration and repair, lake dredging and restoration, and stream cleaning and desnagging, and to fund the cost of dam inspection as prescribed under subsection f. of this section. There is appropriated from the “Surplus Revenue Fund,” established pursuant to P.L.1990, c.44 (C. 52:9H-14 et seq.), to the Dam, Lake and Stream Project Fund the sum of $6,730,000.

b. Moneys in the Dam, Lake and Stream Project Fund are appropriated for State, local or privately-owned projects and may be combined with other State or non-State funding sources.

c. Moneys appropriated from the Dam, Lake and Stream Project Fund may be used by the department to provide loans bearing an interest rate of not more than 2% or other forms of assistance, other than full or matching grants, to owners of private dams, lakes or streams, in accordance with criteria for existing programs established under previous State bond acts, legislative initiatives, or federal aid guidelines.

d. (1) Loans awarded under this section to owners of private dams or lake associations shall require local government units to act as co-applicants. The cost of payment of the principal and interest on these loans shall be assessed, in the same manner as provided for the assessment of local improvements generally under chapter 56 of Title 40 of the Revised Statutes, against the real estate benefited thereby in proportion to and not in excess of the benefits conferred, and such assessment shall bear interest and penalties from the same time and at the same rate as assessments for local improvements in the municipality in which they are imposed, and from the date of confirmation shall be a first and paramount lien upon the real estate assessed to the same extent, and be enforced and collected in the same manner, as assessments for local improvements.

(2) Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (1) of this subsection or of any other law to the contrary, no project for which loans to owners of private dams or lake associations are awarded under this section shall be considered a municipal capital improvement, nor shall the amount of any such loan be considered part of the municipal capital budget, and no such loan shall be subject to the review or approval of the Local Finance Board established under P.L.1974, c.35 (C. 52:27D-18.1).

e. The moneys appropriated under this section shall be allocated commencing with the fiscal year of enactment in such a manner that (a) the amount allocated to dam restoration and repair shall be $4,730,000 (b) the amount allocated to lake dredging and restoration and to stream cleaning and desnagging shall be $2,000,000 and (c) the amount allocated to the Department of Environmental Protection for repair of department-owned dams shall be $0.00.

f. In addition to the number of individuals employed as inspectors of dams on October 1, 2000, the Department of Environmental Protection is directed to employ nine additional individuals as inspectors of dams and to keep all of the positions, including both those in which individuals were employed as inspectors of dams on October 1, 2000 and those to which the nine additional individuals shall have been appointed thereafter, with employees having educational backgrounds or skills in engineering necessary to conduct the inspection of dams and otherwise to carry out the objectives of this act. The salary costs for the nine additional staff positions shall be charged against the moneys appropriated under subsection a. of this section and allocated under subparagraph (a) of paragraph (2) of subsection e. hereof.

L.2001,c.360,s.2.