American Indian tribe offers grants to Wisconsin local governments
Saturday, January 29, 2005 at 06:18AM
TheSpook
With growing profits from its
gambling halls, a northern Wisconsin Indian tribe is offering $100,000
in grants to neighboring local governments to use for everything from
police work to road repairs. The grants are the result of a new
gambling agreement the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians
negotiated with the state in 2003. Under the deal, the tribe gets to
deduct the grant money from the amount the tribe owes to the state,
starting in 2008, Tribal President Bob Chicks said Friday. "Obviously,
gaming has meant a lot to the Stockbridge-Munsee tribe," he said. "Over
the past few years, we have reached a good level of economic success."
Chicks thinks the tribe will get plenty of requests. He acknowledges
that in the era before casinos, cash-strapped tribes were more likely
to apply for government grants rather than offer them. "It does speak
well to the economic success for the tribe," Chicks said. The tribe,
with about 1,500 members, is headquartered in Bowler, about 40 miles
east of Wausau. Local governments can use the tribal grants for
services such as law enforcement, roads, fire departments, educational
programs, computer-technical equipment, water and sewer improvements or
projects that promote intergovernmental cooperation or sharing
governmental resources, Chicks said. The state's compacts with the 11
tribes with casinos allow them to offer Las Vegas-style gambling in
exchange for payments to the state. The state expects to receive
roughly $100 million annually from the tribes under the compacts. [more]
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