Beltrami County History Center Reacts to Funding Cuts After Budget Vote

Last week on September 16, the Beltrami County Board voted 4-1 to set the preliminary budget and levy for 2026. That included cutting 42% of community service funding, including money that goes to the Beltrami County Historical Society and its History Center in Bemidji.

“It was a tough meeting,” said Emily Thabes, Beltrami County Historical Society Executive Director. “The lack of questions and the speed to which they went to a vote afterward, it seemed like their minds were pretty made up for the most part, which was unfortunate.”

Beltrami County has allocated $7,500 toward the History Center annually for many years. While $7,500 is a very small part of the over $100 million county budget, that amount is significant to the History Center.

“Even though that’s less than 1/100 of the overall county budget, it’s around 8% of our operational budget,” explained Thabes. “That money is what we use to pay my salary and the salary of our one part-time employee, who works about 12 hours a week, and to keep our lights on, and the heat and air conditioning and internet, and all that kind of stuff.”

What Thabes was most disappointed by was the county’s reasoning for pulling all of its allocated funds. At the September 16 board meeting, Beltrami County Administrator Tom Barry said one of their principles was to focus on “county mission services first.”

“That’s baffling to me because I think we serve the mission of the county very tightly, very well,” Thabes stated, “and we’re taking away from the work of history.”

Despite the initial rules of the meeting not allowing public comment on the funding cuts, dozens of county residents took to the podium to fight for not cutting funding from community service programs.

“I appreciate people’s courage and their enthusiasm for the services that they use, and maybe not that they use, but that they know that our community deserves and needs,” said Thabes.

According to Barry, funding could still be moved around until the county’s truth and taxation hearing on December 2. Thabes is encouraging the board to continue providing its now previously allocated funding.

“Perhaps we can find $7,500 that we are putting on hold for a future year that we might think is valuable enough to use for history,” she added.

The Beltrami County Historical Society plans on starting a fundraising campaign before that truth and taxation hearing on December 2.