County Board actions: Organics recycling gets more funding, bridge replacement moves forward, Three Rivers Park District budget approved

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Carolyn Marinan, Communications, 612-348-5969

County board actions

Tuesday's votes approved increases in funding for organic recycling, advanced plans to replace the East 46th Street Bridge and approved the Three Rivers Park District's 2017 budget.

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Funding increased for residential organics recycling programs

Recognizing that organics recycling is the greatest opportunity to reduce our trash, the board adopted changes to the Hennepin County Residential Recycling Funding Policy to allocate more money to cities for organics recycling programs.

To support city recycling programs, Hennepin County distributes all of the funding that it receives from the state’s Select Committee on Recycling and the Environment (SCORE) fund to cities. The county distributed $3.5 million in 2016. 

The new funding policy will continue to fund city recycling programs, but will gradually shift more funds to support organics recycling. In 2017, 20 percent of funding will be allocated to organics recycling programs. By 2020, half of the SCORE funding will be dedicated to supporting organics recycling. Organic waste, including food and compostable paper, makes up about one-quarter of residential trash. So increasing organics recycling is the best opportunity to reduce waste and increase recycling.

 

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East 46th Street Bridge replacement plans move forward

The board approved funding to replace the East 46th Street Bridge over Godfrey Parkway in Minneapolis, at a proposed county cost of $3.6 million.  The bridge must be replaced because it is structurally deficient and has a sufficiency rating of 33. The county’s goal is to replace or improve all county owned bridges on county roads that are below a sufficiency rating of 50. Replacement of this bridge has been included in the capital budget at an estimated cost of $4.6 million, which includes $1 million in state bridge bonds and the remainder in state aid (gas tax) funds.

Three Rivers Park District budget approved

The board approved the Three Rivers Park District’s 2017 budget with a total property tax levy of $41.5 million, which is a slight decrease from last year. 

Parks and trails in the district’s purview have seen a 3.4 percent increase in use in the past year, which is in contrast to the 1.3 percent decrease in parks and trail usage in the metro area on the whole. 

Click here for more information on the Three Rivers Park District.

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