Beltrami County Board Approves Local Option Sales Tax to Fund New Jail

The Beltrami County Board of Commissioners has approved a local option sales tax for the new county jail.

After the Minnesota Department of Corrections found that the current facility was no longer meeting the requirements to continue operations, the construction of a new jail was soon discussed. Last November, county residents voted overwhelmingly in favor of a sales tax of 0.625% to fund the facility. The tax will take effect on July 1.

The ordinance for that tax was unanimously approved by the county board. The county also approved the sale of $38,195,000 in bonds to fund the jail project and will pay close to $64 million with principal and interest included. The project has a budget of $80 million.

Piper Sandler and Co., a Minneapolis-based investment banking firm, had the winning bid of a 3.8037 interest rate to the county.