Moore County will apply for more than $4 million in federal stimulus funds.

At a meeting Monday night, the Moore County Board of Commissioners voted to submit an application for $3,503,037 in a grant, a loan and local funds to pay for a major wastewater project in Pinehurst.

The application goes to the North Carolina Construction Grants and Loan Section for stimulus dollars from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

The stimulus money request actually totals $3 million, to be divided equally into a grant and a zero-interest loan, the latter to be paid off in annual payments of $75,000 for 20 years. The county must cover $503,037 in up-front costs to draw down the federal money.

Janet Colon, of the Public Works staff, reported that the money would be designated for construction and replacement of five sewer lift stations in Pinehurst to replace five stations built in the early 1970s that have outlived their usefulness. Colon said the lift stations are becoming more unreliable all the time and require more manpower to prevent overflows.

Design of the project is complete, and the department is ready to advertise for bids, she said. The application has been submitted, but approval by the commissioners is required before it can advance further.

The commissioners also gave the county's transportation services staff the go-ahead to apply for $693,452 in stimulus dollars to pay for capital projects, including installation of automatic vehicle location and mobile data console systems for all 24 vehicles. The money will also be used to replace six vehicles with more than 100,000 miles apiece and to pay for several other improvements.

This application must be submitted to the N.C. Department of Transportation and requires a public hearing. The commissioners agreed to set a public hearing for their May 4 board meeting.

At a previous meeting, the board approved a request for the Sheriff's Department to apply to the U.S. Department of Justice for $634,368 in Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) funds. The money will pay for the hiring of four new deputies.

Contact Florence Gilkeson at 947-4962 or by e-mail at florence@thepilot.com.