BEMIDJI — While all Beltrami County commissioners are up for election this year, only one commissioner faced a primary challenge.
Commissioner Tim Sumner has served District 4 on the Beltrami County Board since winning his first election in 2012, and he will once again be on ballots this November after receiving more than half the vote in Tuesday’s primary.
Frank Duresky from the Upper Red Lake community of Waskish came in second with 431 votes.
Sumner is a Red Lake Band member, and while the Beltrami County Board has not taken any formal position on a bill transferring state land around Upper Red to the Red Lake Nation, it remains a top-of-mind issue to some voters in northern Beltrami County.
Kelliher City Clerk Shelli Krueth said the payment in lieu of taxes, or PILT, generated from state forest land helps fund Blackduck Ambulance, Kelliher Fire and Rescue and other essential services.
"It sounds a simple thing, just giving back some state land, you know, no big deal," Krueth said.
"However, there's a lot of state land up here, and if we were to lose all of that state land, we lose all of our payment in lieu of taxes. ... We're losing a huge tax base."
The bill, which did not move beyond its introduction this legislative session, did not address the impact on PILT dollars to local governments. It would have required the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources to identify any "funding restrictions or other legal barriers" to conveying the land and property to the tribe.
In Redby, which is on the Red Lake Nation, Head Election Judge Marlys Grafal said many of the voters she saw Tuesday were eager to vote for Sumner.
"[They're] not even looking at the front of the ticket," Grafal said, which included primaries for the U.S. Senate and Minnesota's Eighth Congressional District. "Just wanted to vote for Tim!"
