Coon Rapids Recycling Center Locked in $290,917 in State SCORE Funding for 2027

The Coon Rapids Recycling Center will receive $290,917.44 in state funding for 2027, under agreements the Coon Rapids City Council approved on Nov. 2. The money flows through Anoka County, which distributes the state dollars to the municipally run facility under Minnesota's SCORE program and a separate nonresident use agreement.

For operators of small municipal recycling facilities, this is the deal that keeps the lights on. "This is the primary source of funding for the recycling center," said Tim Himmer, the city's public works director.

How the $290,917 breaks down

The 2027 package splits into three distinct streams, and each one carries its own conditions:

• $200,392 — a population and household allotment, restricted to eligible activities under the SCORE framework.
• $20,000 — earmarked specifically for facility improvements at the center.
• $70,525.44 — compensation for nonresident use, recognizing that the facility serves customers who live outside Coon Rapids.

That nonresident line item is not a rounding error. County data show 32% of the recycling center's customers are not Coon Rapids residents — nearly one in every three vehicles at the drop-off. For a city-run site, that figure is the whole argument for the nonresident use agreement: Coon Rapids taxpayers shoulder the facility's fixed costs, while a third of the traffic comes from elsewhere in Anoka County. The $70,525.44 payment offsets that imbalance.

What else feeds the budget

State and county dollars are not the only revenue the center collects. The facility also charges fees for certain recycled items, and it sells some of the material it takes in — scrap metal among them, according to Himmer.

That mix matters for practitioners tracking how small drop-off centers stay solvent. Commodity revenue from metals can swing with market prices, and item fees shift the cost of handling difficult materials onto the users who bring them in. The SCORE allotment and nonresident payment provide the stable base underneath those variable streams.

For context on scale: the $200,392 core allotment works out to roughly $548 per day across a year of operations — a reminder that municipal drop-off recycling runs on thin, tightly earmarked budgets rather than large capital flows.

Why the Nov. 2 vote matters

The city council's approval was the administrative step that locks in the funding a full year ahead of the 2027 operating period. Anoka County acts as the conduit — the county receives the state dollars and passes them through to Coon Rapids under the two agreements, one covering SCORE activities and one covering nonresident use.

For other jurisdictions watching this model, the structure is the takeaway. Population-based allotments, dedicated improvement dollars and a nonresident use payment give a city three separately negotiated revenue lines, each with its own justification and its own paper trail through the county.

What to watch next

The next milestone is the 2027 operating year itself, when the $20,000 improvement allocation gets spent and the county's customer data gets refreshed. If that 32% nonresident share keeps climbing, expect the nonresident use agreement — and the dollar figure attached to it — to grow in the next funding round.