Item Description:
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Set Shingle Creek Watershed Mgmt Commission 2025 maximum levy at $1,299,113 and West Mississippi Watershed Mgmt Commission 2025 maximum levy at $159,075 for projects to improve water quality
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Resolution:
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BE IT RESOLVED, that the 2025 maximum levy for the Shingle Creek Watershed Management Commission be set at $1,299,113; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the 2025 maximum levy for the West Mississippi Watershed Management Commission be set at $159,075; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the levies for both commissions be certified to the county auditor and be placed on all taxable property under the jurisdictions of the Shingle Creek Watershed Management Commission or the West Mississippi Watershed Management Commission.
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Background:
The Shingle Creek Watershed Management Commission and the West Mississippi Watershed Commission contain significant areas within their boundaries that are defined by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency as areas of concern for environmental justice. The levies will help fund projects in these areas of concern.
The Shingle Creek Watershed Management Commission requests a levy of $1,299,113 to fund five priority projects in the commission’s watershed management plan. The projects will achieve the commission’s goals to improve water quality throughout the Shingle Creek Watershed and downstream resources including the Mississippi River.
Descriptions of the projects to be paid in part by the levy funds are:
• The Maintenance Fund - This project will fund activities that are necessary to ensure the success of past capital projects such as ongoing long-term efforts to manage invasive carp or curly-leaf pondweed, maintenance of fish barriers, or water quality projects installed as research projects. These activities will occur at various locations throughout the Shingle Creek Watershed. The commission requests a 2025 levy of $53,025 for its maintenance fund.
• The Brookdale Park Natural Channel Phase 1 (Brooklyn Park) - This project will re-meander and stabilize the bank to about 5,000 linear feet of Shingle Creek between Brookdale Park and Xerxes Avenue. This project will improve water quality, enhance stream habitat, reconnect the creek to its historic alignment and floodplain, and help store water to mitigate downstream flooding. The total cost of this project is $1,250,000 and the commission will fund the full amount. The commission requests a 2025 levy of $662,813 for this project. The remainder of the commission’s contribution was requested as part of the 2024 levy.
• Minneapolis Shingle Creek Regional Park Restoration (Minneapolis) - This project will stabilize the banks of Shingle Creek between Webber Park and the Minneapolis-Brooklyn Center municipal boundary. The project will include regrading creek banks to repair past erosion, erosion protection at pipe outlets, vegetation improvements adjacent to the creek, and in-stream improvement to help improve stream habitat. This project will be completed in close coordination with Minneapolis Parks and Recreation Board and the City of Minneapolis, both of which are planning improvements within the same corridor. The total cost of the project is $1.2 million and the commission will contribute $700,000. The commission requests a 2025 levy of $424,200 for this project. Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board will fund the remaining amount.
The levy also includes one project for publicly owned areas and another for privately owned areas that provide additional infiltration and water quality treatment by retrofitting existing or incorporating new best management practices into already developed areas throughout the Shingle Creek Watershed. The Watershed Management Plan established a process to identify small, best management practices such as iron-enhanced pond filter benches, bio infiltration basins, plant buffers, and erosion stabilization that qualify, and established a capital levy each year to share in the cost of identified projects.
The Shingle Creek Watershed Commission requests a 2025 levy for the following amounts for these projects:
• City Cost Share Best Management Practices Project - $106,050
• Partnership (Private) Cost Share Best Management Practices Project - $53,025
The West Mississippi Watershed Management Commission requests a levy of $159,075 to fund two priority projects in the commission’s watershed management plan. These projects provide additional infiltration and water quality treatment by retrofitting existing or incorporating new best management practices into already developed areas throughout the West Mississippi Watershed - one project for publicly owned areas and another for privately owned areas. The Watershed Management Plan established a process to identify small, best management practices such as iron-enhanced pond filter benches, bio infiltration basins, plant buffers, and erosion stabilization that qualify, and established a capital levy each year to share in the cost of identified projects. The projects will achieve the commission’s goals to improve water quality throughout the West Mississippi Watershed and downstream resources including the Mississippi River.
The West Mississippi Watershed Management Commission requests a 2024 levy for the following amounts for these projects:
• City Cost Share Best Management Practices Project - $53,025
• Partnership (Private) Cost Share Best Management Practices Project - $106,050
Levies authorized pursuant to Minnesota Statutes, section 103B.251 are exempt from any statutory limitation on taxes. A county levying a tax under Minnesota Statutes, section 103B.251 shall not include that tax in the county’s general levy but shall separately certify that amount to the county auditor. The county auditor shall extend that levy as a special taxing district. The commissions must certify their final levies to the county auditor prior to October 1, 2024.
Current Request:
This request is to set the Shingle Creek Watershed Management Commission 2025 maximum levy at $1,299,113 and the West Mississippi Watershed Management Commission 2025 maximum levy at $159,075 for projects that will improve water quality.
This request also establishes that the levies for both commissions be certified to the county auditor and be placed on all taxable property under the jurisdictions of the Shingle Creek Watershed Management Commission or the West Mississippi Watershed Management Commission.
Impact/Outcomes:
Projects in this request will reduce pollutants throughout watersheds by making funding available to cities and private landowners for targeted improvements to Shingle Creek and downstream resources like the Mississippi River.
This action supports the county’s disparity reduction efforts by enhancing stormwater management systems and mitigating the flooding risks that climate change poses to residents, infrastructure, and natural areas most vulnerable to climate change.
Approval of this request will also allow certification of the maximum levy to the county auditor for inclusion in Truth in Taxation statement.
recommendation
Recommendation from County Administrator: Recommend Approval