(a) In passing on an application for financial assistance, the board shall consider:
(1) the need of the economically distressed area to be served by the water supply and sewer services in relation to the need of other political subdivisions requiring financial assistance under this subchapter and the relative costs and benefits of all applications;
(2) the availability to the area to be served by the project of revenue or financial assistance from alternative sources for the payment of the cost of the proposed project;
(3) the financing of the proposed water supply and sewer project including consideration of:
(A) the budget and repayment schedule submitted under § 17.927(b)(4);
(B) other items included in the application relating to financing; and
(C) other financial information and data available to the board;
(4) whether the county and other appropriate political subdivisions have adopted model rules pursuant to § 16.343 and the manner of enforcement of model rules;
(5) the feasibility of achieving cost savings by providing a regional facility for water supply or wastewater service and the feasibility of financing the facility by using funds from the economically distressed areas account or any other financial assistance; and
(6) the ability of the applicant to repay the financial assistance.
(b) At the time an application for financial assistance is considered, the board also must find that the area to be served by a proposed project has a median household income that is not greater than 75 percent of the median state household income for the most recent year for which statistics are available.