Save money by saving the food

NO ONE WANTS to waste food. Yet 40 percent of all food goes uneaten each year in the United States – wasting the water, energy, labor and land used to grow it. That waste adds up at home, too. All the spoiled meat and limp lettuce costs the average family of four $1,500 a year.

40% of all food goes uneaten each year in the United States

From farm to fridge, more food is wasted in our homes than any other part of the supply chain. Luckily, that means we have the power to make a difference in our own kitchens. Join the Save the Food Challenge to learn how to make small shifts in how we shop, prepare and store food to help reduce wasted food and save money.

Get tools and join the challenge at dakotacounty.us, search save the food.

And for all the banana peels and chicken bones that we can’t eat, sign up for Dakota County’s free Organics Drop Off program to turn food waste into beneficial compost.

Partially funded by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and Dakota County.

All The Spoiled Meat And Limp Lettuce Costs The Average

FAMILY OF FOUR $1,500 A YEAR

Why a City’s Credit Score Matters

Credit Scores, or Credit Ratings as we call them in city government, are designed to represent the amount of risk associated with a borrower. The better your score or rating, the more likely you will be able to borrow funds at a lower interest rate. Periodically, the City goes through a series of steps in order to receive a rating from Standard & Poors. S&P looks at multiple factors such as an organization’s institutional framework, management, financial measures, and amount of debt, in addition to the current economy. Based on their findings, S&P will issue a Credit Rating from AAA to D, with anything less than BB being considered “junk”.

Because we are starting two major projects, the City will need to borrow money, and our Credit Rating is a very important component in those plans. Recently, we were thrilled to learn that our previous score of AA+ was confirmed by S&P. AA+ is the second highest credit rating available to an organization. By retaining such a high Credit Rating, we were able to sell bonds with better than expected interest rates. This achievement allowed us to save multiple millions of dollars on both projects, saving taxpayer dollars in the process.