Thank You for Attending the Incorporation Information Meeting
We want to extend our sincere thanks to the more than 300 residents who joined us last night for Northern Township’s Information Meeting on Incorporation. We deeply appreciate the time, thoughtful questions, and input shared by so many of you.
Incorporation is a significant decision for our community—one that the Township Board has not taken lightly. For the past several years, we have listened to resident feedback and steadily worked to understand the full scope of this process. Based on that direction and the information we’ve gathered, the Board determined that incorporation is a realistic and responsible option worth pursuing and presenting to the public. This led to the formal notice to neighboring jurisdictions sent out last month and last night’s meeting with residents.
We were especially grateful for the open dialogue and humbled by the strong show of support in the room. When a show of hands was requested, the number of residents in favor of incorporation was overwhelming—virtually every hand in the room was raised.
Below is a summary of the key points from the meeting, along with ways you can stay informed and help support the process.
Why Incorporation?
- Local Control Means Local Priorities: Northern Township has grown to over 3,800 residents, making us larger than many existing Minnesota cities. Incorporation ensures decisions about our community’s future are made by the people who live here—not by the Bemidji City Council with their different priorities. We’ll preserve our unique character while maintaining the authority to shape our own destiny.
- Tax impact: After incorporation, the Township’s tax rate is expected to remain about the same as we will see new state funding coming in as a city. On the other hand, any property annexed into Bemidji would face a significantly higher city tax rate. Furthermore, if we lose the lake shore properties, the rest of the Township would see tax rates increase significantly to compensate for the lost tax revenue.
- Border stability: Roughly 25 % of Northern’s original land area has already been annexed over the past 30 years. Incorporation establishes permanent borders, preventing annexation and protecting our tax base. This stability is essential for long-term planning and infrastructure development.
- Why no new negotiations with Bemidji: We negotiated in the past and the City withdrew their proposal to allow us to connect as paying customers. Six months ago—before we ordered the sewer project—we again invited talks and received no response. With federal‑grant deadlines approaching and our 2026 hard deadline for construction, there is simply no time to reopen negotiations.
- Following our Residents Previous Direction: We are moving forward in line with the clear directive residents gave us at the large township-wide 2021 and 2022 public meetings.
How You Can Help
- Send your feedback to Township Administrator to include with our records.
- Call Township Administrator with any questions you may have.
- Fill out the Lakeland News Poll: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1BdLjPbtKj/
- Be prepared to come out to our public comment evening during the trial that will happen this summer. The judge for the trial will schedule one evening to hear comments from the public. We will send out information in a letter and emails to everyone as soon as we know when this will happen.
- Contact Rep. Bidal Duran and let him know you are in support of Northern’s incorporation efforts and would like him to continue to help fund our wastewater project with bill HF 1528.
Bidal Duran
Phone: 651-296-4265
E-mail: rep.bidal.duran@house.mn.gov
For more information, please contact:
Chris Lahn,
Northern Township Administrator
(O) 218-444-1857 | chris.lahn@northerntownship.com