Klamath
Courier, Fort Jones, CA, February 8, 2006, Page 1,
column 2
Klamath tribal members lack information and
understanding of the
Klamath Tribes Revenue Allocation Plan, which will
be finalized soon.
Various tribal members have contacted the Klamath
Courier,
complaining of the lack of information provided in
the Allocation
Plan report, which was mailed to every tribal
member.
According to the report, a Klamath Tribes Revenue
Allocation (KTRAP)
team held community meetings in Portland, Salem,
Eugene, Pendleton,
Madras, Klamath Falls, Chiloquin and Beatty to
give an update on what
the unmet needs are for the Klamath Tribal Health
and Family Services
and Administration Programs and to provide
information on the
financial status of Kla-Mo-Ya Casino and
discussion on excess net
gaming revenue.
According to some tribal members, the meetings
were not well
advertised and attendance was small, with only 5-8
members attending
some of the meetings. There are approximately
3,587 tribal members.
Some tribal members feel the Plan does not explain
well enough the
important choices tribal members are faced with,
and members need
more information before they make this important
decision. According
to sources, the mailer does not even contain the
dates which the
votes need to be returned by.
The ballot contains two matters for tribal members
to vote on.
Section A asks what percentages of Gaming Revenues
should be
allocated and distributed to each listed Plan
category. Section B
gives options for who should receive per capita
payments, if they are
to be distributed. Three groups are listed as
possible recipients of
per capita disbursements, tribal elders - sixty
years of age or
older, elders and seniors - fifty-five to
fifty-nine years of age, or
all tribal members.
According to the Plan, per capita disbursement has
been discussed and
seemed to be an option to pursue. Pursuant to the
Indian Gaming
Regulatory Act that governs Indian tribal gaming;
per capita payments
to tribal members can be made only if the tribes
have a "Revenue
Allocation Plan" that is formally approved by the
Secretary of the
Interior.
The plan attempts to establish a fair and
equitable process for the
Klamath Tribes to distribute excess net gaming
revenues derived from
the Kla-Mo-Ya Casino Corporation and is consistent
with the Indian
Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988 (IGRA) (25 U.S.C.
Section 2701 et.
seq.), Klamath Tribal Law and the mission of the
Klamath Tribes. The
plan focuses on strengthening tribal government,
tribal
self-sufficiency and promoting tribal economic
development.
The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act provides that
gaming net revenues
may be used to fund the following categories:
1. Tribal Government Operations. The tribes have
defined Tribal
Government Operations to include: General Council,
Tribal Council,
Enrollment, Office of Tribal Attorney, Judiciary,
Law Enforcement,
and other tribal government operations and
programs being developed
and hereafter developed whether created directly
under Tribal
Council, Judiciary, Law Enforcement, or
otherwise. Additionally,
funding under this category may be used for land
acquisitions,
construction, and capital improvements to tribal
government offices
and buildings.
2. Tribal Economic Development. The Tribes have
defined Tribal
Economic Development to include: investment in the
Klamath Tribes
Self-Sufficiency Trust Fund and any other
investment account
established to secure the short term and long term
financial needs of
the Klamath Tribes, established and ongoing tribal
businesses and
enterprises, and proposed economic development
projects, including
but not limited to land acquisitions and land
development.
3. General Welfare of the Tribe and its members.
The Tribes have
defined General Welfare to include: all existing
programs operated
within Tribal Administration and Klamath Tribal
Health and Family
Services, new initiatives, and replacement and
restructuring of
existing programs to benefit the general welfare
of the Klamath Tribe
and its tribal members.
4. Donations to Charitable Organizations. The
Tribes have defined
Charitable Organizations as charitable
organizations that are federal
tax exempt corporations or foundations recognized
under the United
States Internal Revenue Code section 501 (c).
5. State and Local Governmental Agencies. Include
all State and
local government agencies.
Additional Category:
Individual Per Capita Payments: If approved by
the General Council
and Secretary of the Interior, this will be a
payment to all tribal
members in equal amounts, or to a selected group
of tribal members in
equal amounts (i.e. elders or seniors and
elders). These payments
are subject to taxes.
Administration costs: There will be
administration costs for
administering the allocations and distributions
approved by the plan.
For example, salary for employees to perform the
administrative work
such as certifying roll, keeping track of
addresses, processing per
capita payments, monitoring trust funds, accepting
and reviewing
petitions for release of minor and incompetent
funds, Tribal Court
review, etc.
The total administrative cost will be taken from
the excess net
gaming revenue on an annual basis before the
revenue is distributed
to the categories in accordance with the approved
percentages.
The Plan contains two notices of importance to
remember:
1. Per capita is taxable income.
2. All final options are subject to approval by
the Secretary of the
Interior in accordance with the Indian Gaming
Regulatory Act and
implementing regulations. If the options that
obtain majority vote
are not approved by the Secretary of the Interior,
the Tribal Council
will negotiate with the Secretary of the Interior
or appropriate
Bureau official to gain approval of the revenue
allocation plan
allocation and distribution percentages in amounts
that are as close
as possible to those options that obtain the
majority of votes.
Tribal members face an important decision deciding
the disposition of
revenues from the Kla-Mo-Ya casino. The sample
figures given
indicate a large amount of money initially, but
smaller amounts per
capita depending on which group of recipients is
chosen, if any. The
three categories of Tribal Government Operations,
Tribal Economic
Development and General Welfare take a combined
$855,000 from the
total amount available in the plan. According to
some tribal
members, the Tribal Health and Family Services has
been running "in
the red" and needs additional funding, but other
categories, such as
Tribal Government Operations, raise more
questions. No spending plan
for the additional money has been released.
Members feel they need
such information to make intelligent decisions,
before voting on a
baseline plan which will carry through to upcoming
years. Members
also question the money going to Economic
Development funds, as
Economic Development already receives
approximately $35,000 per
quarter from the Tribe, yet has seen little or no
results from its
activities. Hard figures are needed by members to
make hard
decisions for their future.
The per capita figures clearly demonstrate no one
is going to get
rich from proceeds from the Kla-Mo-Ya casino. The
large amounts
marked for Tribal Government use, Economic
Development and General
Welfare use also demonstrate the need for further
information to
Tribal members, including a spending plan, before
these landmark
decisions are voted upon.
