The Sherburne County Board Tuesday approved the 2018 SCORE budget in the amount of $758,874. The SCORE (Select Committee on Recycling and Environment) program is a state funding source for counties to develop waste reduction, recycling and solid waste management programs.
Each year, SCORE funds eligible programs throughout the county.
Solid Waste Administrator Dave Lucas said there was a larger than usual carryover of funds ($401,607) that weren’t used in 2017, making this year’s balance much higher.
“There was turnover of staff and staff shortages last year. Some programs weren’t fully implemented,” he said. “We only did half of our household hazardous waste collection events because we didn’t have the staff to oversee some of them.”
Some cities and townships didn’t use all their allotted grant dollars, so there was roughly $35,000 carried over.
Some townships sent their municipal solid waste to landfills and didn’t get SCORE funding.
“If you landfill waste collected at these events, the county can’t reimburse you for those dollars,” said Lucas. “If you take your material to a resource recovery facility, such as GRE or Pope-Douglas, that is an eligible expense.”
City yard-waste sites didn’t use their full allotment of grant dollars, so about $60,000 was carried over. And because of the tornado that hit the county, the vendor who usually does wood chipping and grinding wasn’t available to do the same in cities last year.
Lucas said because of the larger budget, the county is going to be more proactive in 2018.
“This year’s budget provides for additional money to cities and townships. We’re going to reimburse them 100%,” he said. “And we’re strongly encouraging them to take material to resource recovery facilities so we can reimburse them.”
City township cleanup day events will receive $121,968.
The allocation for household hazardous waste (HHW) collection events is $100,000.
The Stearns County HHW facility will receive $30,000.
Zimmerman Girl Scouts Paper & Cardboard Recycling Program gets $6,300.
Becker Boy Scouts Paper & Cardboard Recycling Program receives $6,160.
Public yard waste sites will get $130,000. It includes $40,000 for Elk River and $30,000 each for the cities of Becker, Big Lake and Zimmerman.
The pharmaceutical collection and disposal program is budgeted $5,000.
The battery recycling program will get $12,500.
Grass clippings and leaf drop events receive $4,000.
The Environmental Educator Newsletter will get $30,000.
Administration costs to the county total $3,500.
The remaining $308,661.81 is unallocated and can be awarded to SCORE eligible projects and proposals by staff, said Lucas.
Elections
The board approved a service agreement with KnowInk for $118,060 electronic poll books for use in primary and general elections in 2018 and future years. The county will be receiving $55,740.42 from the State of Minnesota to assist with the total cost. The County will be providing the balance of $62,319.58.
Other Business
In other action the board:
• Approved the final contract payment of $142,152.07 to Knife River Corp. for bituminous reclaim and overlay and reconstruction on Co. Rd. 24;
• Approved the final contract payment of $190,923.90 to Knife River Corp. for Co. Rd. 4 reconditioning, Fremont Drive realignment, and Hwy. 169 traffic signal replacement;
• Approved an agreement with WSB & Associates to provide engineering services for the reconstruction of Co. Rd. 16 from Co. Rd. 11 to Co. Rd. 93 in the amount of $337,458;
• Approved an agreement with Bolton & Menk to provide engineering services for the Co. Rd. 13 and Twin Lakes Road Corridor Study in the amount of $85,940.
