Beltrami County Board Meets To Discuss Financial Deficit

(Correction: the amount Beltrami County has used to pay for the funding gap should have been listed as $14 million, not $14 billion as originally reported. We regret the error.)

According to Beltrami County officials, a steep placement of children in foster care is becoming unmanageable and is causing Beltrami County to use their saving account to fill in the deficit at the end of the year.

The county has used $14 million in the last six years to pay for the gap in funding, and the costs related to foster care placement has been on the rise. County members spoke with a third party CPA firm to go over their financial statements. Based on the firms analysis, the county’s financial performance is in trouble. Beltrami County Administrator Kay Mack said the community should contact county officials.

“I would recommend that people contact their legislature, contact the governor’s office tell them that this is just disproportionate to Beltrami County and we shouldn’t be having to face this kind of fiscal crisis because of things were handed to us from the state.” Mack said.