Beltrami County’s fiscal cliff: Some measures in the House may help

By: News Director Larissa Donovan

ST. PAUL– Local representative John Persell (DFL-Bemidji) says there are some measures in the final omnibus bills in the state house that will partially address Beltrami County’s out-of-home placement funding crisis.

Persell, in an interview, says there are some funding measures to help with the county’s out-of-home placement, or foster care, costs.

Beltrami County is facing fiscal insolvency within the next couple of years due to the high costs of out-of-home placements.

The county’s department of human services fund has been depleted due to the costs, and the county has had to use money out of its general fund to pay for the shortfall.

Minnesota is one of two states where the largest portion of funding for out of home placements comes from local level. 


Larissa Donovan is the News Director for the stations of Paul Bunyan Broadcasting and has been, almost without interruption, since Election Day 2016. She covers all the beats in north-central Minnesota, such as local government, crime, education, environment and social issues. She studied communications at Bemidji State University. You can follow along with Larissa's live tweets of meetings and events on Twitter!


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