The Sherburne County Board Tuesday approved the 2019 SCORE budget in the amount of $731,199.

 

SCORE - the Select Committee on Recycling and the Environment, was the result of 1989 legislation regarding waste reduction and recycling.

 

Each year, the state allocates funds to counties for programs designed to promote recycling and reduce waste going into landfills. Counties must follow specific criteria, like having an approved solid waste management plan, reporting to the MPCA annually and providing a 25% match.

 

The county receives $288,896 from the state for 2019. The SCORE carryover from last year is $383,180. The county’s 25% match totals $66,724, and the fund also received $15,481 in reimbursements from the MN PCA for participation in the Household Hazardous Waste Program Management.

 

This year, the largest line item in the budget is $160,000 for public yard-waste sites. Those facilities are maintained and operated by the cities of Becker, Big Lake, Elk River and Zimmerman. All county residents can use any of the sites by obtaining a free access card.

 

The total budget for city and township cleanup day events is $121,231. Individual grant amounts to each city and township are based on a three-year average of  prior cleanup day events.    

 

Another $100,000 is budgeted for mobile household hazardous waste events. Eight events are planned at various locations in 2019.

 

The Environmental Educator Newsletter is budgeted $36,000. The quarterly publication is distributed to over 32,000 homes in the county.

 

Stearns County Hazardous Waste Collection Facility has a budget of $30,000. Sherburne County has a three-year agreement allowing any county resident to dispose of household hazardous waste at the facility, which is located in Waite Park. In 2018, 803 county households delivered waste to the facility.

 

CLIMB Theatre is budgeted $23,025. The group does environmental education performances in schools throughout the county.

 

ISD 728 (Elk River) has an agreement to purchase recycling bins and labels to be placed at school buildings to reduce waste and increase recycling. Their budget is $8,775.

 

The Civic Betterment Club Paper and Cardboard Recycling Program is budgeted $8,360. Formerly operated by the Zimmerman Girls Club, it is held at Shopko in Princeton one weekend per month.

 

The Becker Boy Scouts Paper and Cardboard Recycling Program has a budget of $6,912. The Scouts load and unload paper and cardboard monthly at Norms, Citizen-Tribune, JMJ, Vertex, BBC, Vogal, Firebuggs, and Kaseman Machine and bring it to the Vonco site.

 

The budget for the grass clippings and leaf dropoff event is $4,000. It takes place near the Briggs Lakes Chain. The grass clippings and leaves are land-applied at Jan’s Christmas Trees site in Palmer Twp. It is open to all county residents at no charge.

 

The pharmaceutical collection and disposal program will get $3,000. Collection barrels are located at 16 sites throughout the county. Batteries are collected and sorted by sentence-to-serve crews and processed by Lake State Recycling in Elk River. 

 

The administrative budget for the county is $138,000. It covers Solid Waste Advisory Comittee per diems, training and staff time to develop landfill abatement programs and activities.

 

Another $81,896 is reserved for competitive grants for education, outreach, pilot programs and landfill abatement projects and initiatives.