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Funding request for parks and trails commission advances

“Clearly the needs outweigh the resources that we have,” Thomas Ryan, chair of the Greater Minnesota Regional Parks and Trails Commission, told the House Environment and Natural Resources Finance Division Tuesday.

Established in 2013, the commission, per its website, is “to carry out system planning and provide recommendations to the legislature for ?grants? funded by the Legacy parks and trails fund to counties and cities outside the seven-county metropolitan area for parks and trails of regional significance.”

However, Ryan said need far outpaces the dollars the commission has available.

The Parks and Trails fund receives 14.25 percent of the sales tax revenue from the Clean Water, Land and Legacy amendment. Of that, the Commission receives 20 percent, while the DNR and Metropolitan Council each receive 40 percent.

The House Environment and Natural Resources Finance Division approved HF653, as amended, Tuesday. It includes about $20.3 million for the commission to use in funding projects during the upcoming biennium.

The amended bill is an effort to align recommendations from the parks and trails commission with the budget proposed by Gov. Tim Walz, according to Rep. Leon Lillie (DFL-North St. Paul), the bill sponsor. The amendment also encompasses the governor’s total request.

The division referred the bill to the House Ways and Means Committee with a recommendation that it be re-referred to the House Legacy Finance Division. The companion, SF836, awaits action by the Senate Environment and Natural Resources Policy and Legacy Finance Committee. Sen. Carrie Rudd (R-Breezy Point) is the sponsor.

Project recommendations are made after exhaustive research of grant proposals, according to Renee Mattson, executive director at commission. An independent panel of five people evaluates and score proposals in an effort to ensure awards are equitable.

Requested funding for Fiscal Year 2020 has been recommended by the commission.

“Of the 59 regionally designated parks and trails in the Greater Minnesota system (at the time of application), the Commission received 21 applications and selected 11 projects totaling $8,639,258 to recommend for legislative approval,” according to a commission release.


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