Sponsor: Parks & Recreation
Title
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Acceptance of Operations and Maintenance Funding from Metropolitan Council
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Recommendation
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1. Authorize the County Manager to accept Operations and Maintenance funds each year from the Metropolitan Council.
2. Authorize the County Manager to use the Regional Rehabilitation project currently in the Parks and Recreation department to budget for all Operations and Maintenance funding moving forward.
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Background and Rationale
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The State of Minnesota provides operations and maintenance funding to Ramsey County via the Metropolitan Council (Council). Ramsey County is one of the ten regional park implementing agencies in the Twin Cities metropolitan area. Through its Regional Parks and Trails grant programs, the Council allocates state and regional funds for the rehabilitation, modernization, development of facilities, as well as the operations of the regional parks and trails system within Ramsey County, including improvements to aging infrastructure, accessibility, and natural resource protection.
These investments help operate and preserve major recreational assets including the county’s six regional parks and six regional trails, ensuring that facilities remain safe, sustainable, and accessible while supporting the long-term goals of the Metropolitan Regional Parks System. Funding is awarded through a partnership model in which Ramsey County owns and operates the parks and the Council provides financial support through state resources to maintain and enhance parks and trails that serve residents throughout the seven-county metropolitan area.
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County Goals (Check those advanced by Action)
☒ Well-being ☒ Prosperity ☒ Opportunity ☐ Accountability
Racial Equity Impact
Although there is not a known racial equity impact for the action of setting up project accounts the individual projects will have equity impacts. Parks & Recreation will be bringing forward a variety of requests for approval of agreements associated with these projects and will detail out the equity impact by project at that time. All users of the parks and trails system benefit when facilities are adequately maintained and are enhanced.
Community Participation Level and Impact
Community engagement has taken place prior to this requested action which helped Parks & Recreation staff to develop a prioritized list of maintenance projects to pursue within the regional parks and trails system.
☒ Inform ☐ Consult ☐ Involve ☐ Collaborate ☐ Empower
Fiscal Impact
The requested action for the approval of project accounts does not have a direct fiscal impact on the operating budget. In 2025 Parks & Recreation received roughly $978,000 in operations and maintenance funding through the State’s Lottery in Lieu of Sales tax fund. Parks & Recreation anticipate receiving a similar amount of funding in 2026 and beyond. In future years, budgets will be set up at the beginning of the Ramsey County fiscal year based on the total estimated revenue and revised accordingly based on actuals collected.
Last Previous Action
None.
Attachments
1. None.