Verified as of September 16, 2026. We re-check these pages quarterly.
What it pays
The county's Septic Upgrade Incentive Program pays the contractor directly, up to $14,000 for a nitrogen-reducing aerobic treatment unit, or up to $8,000 for an in-ground nitrogen-reducing biofilter. The contractor reduces your invoice by that amount and you pay the balance. Those two ceilings are the figures on the county's own property owner attestation form.
Who qualifies
From the county's eligibility list:
- Property type: single-family residence, two-family residence, or mobile home. No commercial property. No new residential construction.
- Location: within the DeLeon Springs priority focus area.
- Taxes: property taxes current.
- Existing system: conventional, meaning not already nitrogen-reducing.
- New system: an in-ground nitrogen-reducing biofilter, a nitrogen-reducing NSF-245 certified aerobic treatment unit, or a nitrogen-reducing performance-based treatment system.
- Contractor: registered as a vendor with Volusia County, with a current business tax receipt where one is required, and either a septic tank contractor registered with the state of Florida or a plumbing contractor certified by the state.
That contractor requirement is the one that trips people. A perfectly good installer who has never registered as a county vendor cannot be paid by this program.
How the money moves
You do not receive a check and you do not front the grant. The county pays the contractor after the work has been inspected and approved, and the contractor takes that amount off your invoice. You sign a one-page owner attestation; the contractor submits it with the rest of the paperwork and applies for the permits. Work has to be approved before it starts, and permitted through the county health department.
A worked example
A house inside the DeLeon Springs priority focus area needs an upgrade. An aerobic treatment unit is quoted at $17,000 installed — mid-range for this county, where units run $10,000–$20,000.
- Quoted: $17,000
- Grant applied by the contractor: $14,000
- Your balance: $3,000, plus county permit fees
Choose the in-ground biofilter route instead and the ceiling is $8,000 rather than $14,000, so the arithmetic is your quote minus $8,000. Which of the two makes sense is not only a money question — see ATU or in-ground biofilter, because one of them has a blower and a service contract for life and the other does not.
Before you count on it
Check that the program is still open and still funded before you build a budget around it. When we checked in September 2026, the county's published attestation form and participating-contractor list were both live, but the county's grant landing page and the applicant portal named in earlier press coverage no longer resolved. That may be a site reorganization or it may be a closed program, and the difference is $14,000. Call Volusia County Environmental Management on 386-736-5927 and ask directly, or ask us to ask — we would rather find out before a quote than after one.
Grant programs of this kind are finite by design. The statewide version that preceded the county programs stopped taking applications when its funding ran out.
Verified as of September 16, 2026. We re-check these pages quarterly. The $14,000 and $8,000 ceilings and the eligibility list above were confirmed against the county's own property owner attestation form on that date. Program availability was not confirmed — confirm current availability before counting on a number.
All work is performed by local licensed, permitted Florida-registered septic tank contractors.