Beltrami Co. Board Proposing Cuts to Community Service Funding of Over 40%

Next year’s budget for Beltrami County could possibly include cuts of more than 40% to community services in the area.

County Administrator Tom Barry says the county will receive significantly less from federal and state resources and is expected to cover more costs than usual due to unfunded mandates.

The biggest hit to next year’s budget will be cuts to community services. Funding for library services in Bemidji and Blackduck is proposed to be cut down to the state-mandated minimum, and significant cuts to Paul Bunyan Transit and the Beltrami County Historical Society are being proposed as well.

“$7,500 is the entire allocation that the county provides to the Historical Society,” said Emily Thabes, Beltrami County Historical Society Executive Director. “It’s a tremendous amount of money for us to use for programing, for preserving our resources, for being able to just simply keep the lights on. We cannot get operational grants—there is no such thing. What little money there was from federal funding is gone, and what money there is from the state is not available for operational funding.

“So we really rely on our county to value history and to show that value through that allocation,” she added. “We were very disappointed to see that that was not something that was included in this year’s budget, and we really hope that there will be a reconsideration by the commissioners as they look forward.”

The Beltrami County Board of Commissioners will discuss and potentially vote on the preliminary budget during the Tuesday, September 16 meeting at 5 p.m. The budget for 2026 must be submitted by September 30.