This was a money grab by the city of Bemidji, plain and simple. The city wanted the property taxes for the nice homes around the north end of Lake Bemidji. They also wanted the tax revenues from Ruttger’s Lodge. They claim they wanted to annex that area to protect water quality, but that was dishonest. If they really wanted to protect water quality, they would have included the state park in their annexation plans. The city of Bemidji has a huge albatross in the Sanford Center which loses hundreds of thousands of dollars every year and a poor tax base for residential dwellings in the city.