Wisconsin Administrative Code
Department of Natural Resources
NR 100-199 - Environmental Protection General
Chapter NR 193 - Surface Water Grant Program
Subchapter VII - Land Acquisition
Section NR 193.87 - Grant calculation

(a) The grantee shall order and submit to the department an appraisal for fee simple or conservation easement projects, both for parcels to be purchased and parcels that will be used as grantee acquisition match. The grantee shall order appraisals in accordance with department guidelines, and the appraisals shall be subject to department review and approval. An appraisal ordered by the seller is unacceptable.

Note: The department's appraisal guidelines are available from the DNR, Bureau of Community Financial Assistance.

(b) The department may order a second appraisal if the property presents a difficult appraisal problem, if the first appraisal is unacceptable under department established criteria, or if the value of the parcel exceeds $350,000. If only one appraisal is required for fee simple or easement land acquisition, the cost of the appraisal is grant eligible. If more than one appraisal is required, the cost of the first appraisal is entirely the responsibility of the applicants and is grant eligible; the cost of the second appraisal is entirely the responsibility of the department.

Note: The department encourages a grantee considering applying for grant funding for fee simple or conservation easement acquisition to contact the department before ordering an appraisal. Instructions provided to the appraiser will impact the scope and quality of the appraisal and, therefore, impact the grant award amount.

(a) The purchased or donated match property must also be eligible for grant funding under this subchapter.

(b) With approval of the department, a grantee may use a portion of the accepted appraised value of a donated property as part or all of the grantee acquisition match of the acquisition cost of the subject property. The value of contribution of property shall be determined by appraisal as specified in the department's appraisal guidelines.

(c) The amount that may be used for grantee acquisition match shall equal the fair market value as determined by the department for an accepted appraisal. The grant payment may not exceed the amount of cash needed for the purchase. The value of the donated property not used as a grantee acquisition match in the original project may not be used by the grantee as a grantee acquisition match on any subsequent application under this chapter.

Example: Presume an applicant applies to protect a lake with a fee simple land acquisition funded with a land acquisition grant. Presume the property has a value of $100,000 as determined by a department-approved appraisal. The Surface Water Grant Program requires a 25% grantee acquisition match, bringing the maximum grant award to $75,000, with $25,000 provided by the grantee. Presume further that the applicant will use a donated property as part of the grantee acquisition match. Presume the department-approved value of the donated property is $70,000 and that miscellaneous eligible acquisition costs (including closing costs, attorney's fees and appraisal costs) amount to $10,000. The maximum grant award for the proposed acquisition would be calculated as $135,000. However, the applicant cannot receive a grant that exceeds amount of actual cash outlay. In this example, the actual cash outlay is the subject property value plus the eligible acquisition costs, so the maximum grant award is capped at $110,000.

($100,000 + $10,000 + $70,000) x 75% = $135,000

Maximum grant award capped at $110,000

(d) Grantee acquisition match property shall be encumbered in perpetuity by a grant agreement and subject to the same conditions and restrictions that would encumber fee simple or conservation easement land acquired with a grant awarded under this chapter.