Beltrami County Wind Storm Relief Bill Stalls at Minnesota Capitol

Beltrami County has fronted $2.5 million in wind storm recovery costs with no reimbursement date, and the bill that could make the county whole stalled at the Minnesota Capitol this week after being laid over by a House committee.

House File 3530, authored by Republican Reps. Bidal Duran (District 2A) and Matt Bliss (District 2B), was heard by the House Public Safety Finance and Policy Committee on April 8 and then laid over for possible inclusion in an omnibus bill, a procedural step that delays any immediate vote and leaves the county carrying storm expenses with no clear timeline for relief.

The financial pressure is already reshaping county services. County Administrator Tom Barry, testifying virtually, told lawmakers the county "does not have the capacity to absorb costs at this scale," and pleaded: "Please. Our community suffered an unprecedented loss in the June 21st windstorm, and now we risk falling short of full recovery due to an unintended loophole." That loophole has contributed to a proposed 42% cut to community services in the county's budget.

The June 21, 2025 storm was a derecho with wind gusts up to 125 mph, comparable to a Category 2 or 3 hurricane. It downed an estimated 9 million trees across a 37-mile path through Beltrami County, left tens of thousands without power, and produced $9.7 million in non-insured public infrastructure damage. Total regional damage topped $11 million, but the FEMA declaration threshold stood at $10.7 million. Minnesota fell $800,000 short.

That shortfall traces to how tribal damages were counted. Because the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe pursued its own federal assistance independently, its storm losses were excluded from Beltrami County's FEMA assessment, pushing the county below the threshold. The Leech Lake Band received a federal disaster declaration from President Trump in October 2025; Beltrami County did not.

Without FEMA assistance, the county turned to Minnesota's Disaster Assistance Contingency Account (DACA), which Gov. Tim Walz formally approved for Beltrami County in August 2025. DACA, created after a 2012 Bemidji-area windstorm that similarly fell short of federal thresholds, covers 75% of eligible costs. The remaining 25% falls to Beltrami County, approximately $2.5 million paid from reserves with no reimbursement schedule.

House File 3530 would require the Minnesota Department of Public Safety to reimburse the county for 100% of eligible costs, applied retroactively to cover what has already been spent. Bemidji Mayor Jorge Prince, who described June 21 as "a defining day in the city of Bemidji," told the committee that city-level damage came to close to $9 million. Rep. Bliss said "the damage was devastating, and the recovery in affected communities will take many years." The Department of Public Safety opposed the bill, arguing it undermines established cost-sharing precedent.

With HF 3530 laid over, it awaits possible insertion into an omnibus public safety finance package, with committee hearings expected in April and May before a House-Senate conference near session's end. Rep. Duran and Rep. Bliss remain the county's primary legislative advocates in that process. U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar visited Bemidji on April 2 to assess recovery firsthand, but the decision on whether Beltrami County recovers its $2.5 million rests with the legislature in St. Paul.

Emergency Management Director Chris Muller has noted that Beltrami County is reportedly the second-poorest county in Minnesota, with a small taxable land base that makes multi-million-dollar unplanned costs especially difficult to absorb. The county also lost millions in timber inventory, a revenue loss expected to weigh on budgets for years regardless of what the legislature decides.