5.3. SR 06-11-2007 - Laserfiche WebLink

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ITEM 5.3.A. MEMORANDUM TO: Mayor and City Council FROM: Phil Hals, Street Superintendent DATE: June 6, 2007 SUBJECT: Information on Sherburne County Funding of Composting Activities In March, the Sherburne County Municipal Recycling Board (Cities of Becker, Big Lake, Elk River and Zimmerman) applied for a SCORE grant of $50,000 through the Sherburne County Solid Waste Conunittee to fund the out of pocket expenses involved with grinding brush, composting leaves and grass clippings. The SCORE Conunittee recommends $48,000 for 2007 and a reduction to $40,000 in 2008. The volunteer conunittee feels that the money is better spent for educational opportunities. What this means for Elk River and the other three cities is that we will need to fund a portion of the grinding costs, as well as the labor and equipment costs that we now bear. It is the intention of the SCORE Conunittee to reduce funding by 15% each year until the cities are totally funding their own programs, therefore we must explore other funding options. One option is to charge a dumping fee and that would include installing control gates, a card access system and a video surveillance system at each compost facility. A small fee could be attached to a card system for residents and a more appropriate fee for conttactors that use this facility. The fees would help offset the reduction in grant funding. This type of controlled access could be impacted by the street garage building expansion at our compost drop site Another option would be for Sherburne County to fund the composting operations, since it is such a popular program through out the county. To offset the reduction in SCORE grant funding, the Street Department budget for 2008 contains a request for $2,000. 6-6-07 M&C county funding on composting.doc