Bemidji puts forth final offer to Northern Township before boundary trial

BEMIDJI — All offers are now on the table ahead of an administrative trial that will decide whether properties around Lake Bemidji will enter the city proper, or Bemidji’s nearest neighbor becomes its own city with separate utilities.

The joint meeting on Thursday, Aug. 29, was a required piece of the trial, where a judge will decide between Northern Township’s petition to incorporate as its own city, or Bemidji’s counterpetition to annex around the lake.

More than 100 people attended the hearing at the Sanford Event Center on Thursday, Aug. 28, to hear how each local government proposes to move forward. Bemidji leaders say extending city boundaries to wrap around Lake Bemidji would best address the decades-long goal of eliminating septic systems. Northern Township presented a plan for becoming a city, firming up its boundary and building a separate sewer plant to serve the northern and eastern sides of the lake.

Bemidji Mayor Jorge Prince made a final offer to the Northern Town Board before the trial begins later this month.

“In the hopes that we might reach a negotiated settlement that can work for both of us and allow us to decide the future of our community together and not in court,” Prince said, “highlights of our offer would include city-installed water and sewer utilities around the lake, delayed hookup plan and deferred connection fees, [and] a generous tax reimbursement tied to phased annexation.”

Northern Township Administrator Chris Lahn said the Board has listened to constituents and remains determined to move forward with incorporation into a new city and constructing a new plant.

“We've been down this road several times over the past four years, talking about annexation, and every single time we've been basing our actions off of your guys' feedback, which has been clear and overwhelmingly, ‘We do not want annexation, we've been down that road,’” Lahn said.

The city’s plan includes annexing some of the most valuable homes in the area along Lake Bemidji’s “Gold Coast," amounting to somewhere around 30% of the township’s tax base.

Consultant Matt Stark with Baker Tilly — among the city’s experts — said the annexation would relieve the township of several expenses like maintaining streets and supporting the rural fire association.

“The city would be assuming a lot of the expenses for providing services there,” Stark said. “The current fire dues are based on value, so I anticipate that the city of Bemidji would be taking over $60,000 to $65,000 worth of the fire costs.”

Larissa Donovan

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KAXE

Lahn said properties annexed into Bemidji would face much higher taxes than Northern Township would levy. He provided examples of affected properties’ tax statements, comparing the township’s 16% tax rate with what he determined was Bemidji’s 44% rate.

“First property, we're going to look at is over on the northwest side of Lake Bemidji," Lahn said, referencing a parcel on Birchmont Court. “This particular property paid $8,326 in property taxes this year. ... You're going to see a property tax increase of $2,490.

“And I just want to stress this isn't just a one-time increase. This is a forever increase, every single year, as those tax rates stayed about the same. That's the type of difference that you're going to see.”

Some of the residents within the contested area expressed some frustration with both local government units.

“Either annexation or part of the [assessed] sewer plant cost, the whole entire township is not included in that. It's just those of us that live on the lake or across the street from the lake,” Susan Whelan said. “However, we haven't been contacted as far as what we want and it's frustrating. I mean, we haven't been contacted by the city, we haven't been contacted really by the township to ask us specifically our feedback.”

The trial will begin with Northern Township detailing its case the week of Sept. 29, with a public hearing set for Sept. 30 at the Beltrami County Fairgrounds.
Bemidji will detail its case the following week, with a public hearing set for Oct. 8 at the Sanford Event Center.