Agenda - Council - 11/25/1980 - Laserfiche WebLink

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- 37 - b. Grant Funds There are some subsidies or 9rants now available from various governmental agencies and departments. Most of these come from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under the Resource Conservation and Recover" Act (RCRA) of 1976. Those RCRA grants are available to both private firms and local governments. An example is the urban resource recovery assis- tance grant. The Department of Housing and Urban Development offers some block grants for solid waste abatement purposes as does the Department of Economic Development. Finally, as man- dated by the Minnesota State Legislature in the 1980 Waste Management Act, grants will be made available through the Metropolitan Council to the metropolitan counties for solid waste abatement planning. Other funding provided by the 1980 Act includes source separation and reduction demonstration funds managed by Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and facility loans managed by the State Waste Management Board. c. Loans In addition to the bonding capabilities of local governments, there are also some tax-exempt or discounted loans available in the solid waste area from federal sources. An example of this is the Small Business Administration loans for pollution control Or abatement facilities (Fragnito, 1980). 2. POTENTIAL FINANCING OPTIONS REQUIRING LEGISLATIVE ACTION In addition to the traditional sources of financial assistance listed above, there are other potential sources. Connecticut, Nebraska, Virginia and Washington have a system of tax assessments on specified packaged products that is based on an ad valorum tax. This tax is assessed on retailers, manufacturers and wholesalers, and the revenue produced defrays costs of solid waste abatement. In Colorado, an agreement was worked out where the money received.by EPA from an industry's pollution penalty was reallocated to a nonprofit organization for a recycling facility. In California and Ohio, a percentage of the incorporation tax paid by all corporations in the state pays for solid waste abatement programs. A more elaborate scheme was developed in Michigan. In Michigan, which has a mandatory deposit law~ there is currently a bill before the legislature that would dedicate all unclaimed soft drink and beer container deposits for a fund to be used for recy- cling and resource recovery facilities. In Alaska, Colorado, Hawaii and South Carollna, a general state appropriation was man- dated specifically for certain recycling and resource recovery projects.