Cowlitz reservation changes casino picture
In April 2009, the Cowlitz Tribal Council and the Board of Clark County Commissioners decided to kill a 2004 casino pact rather than to continue trying to defend it in court.
But the fact there’s no formal agreement between the county and tribe doesn’t mean there will be a total lack of county oversight and involvement in the development and operation of a casino, the county’s chief deputy prosecutor said Monday.
Many of the stipulations in the voided 2004 Memorandum of Understanding were rolled into a 2007 Cowlitz Indian Tribe ordinance that was approved by the tribal council and submitted to the federal government as part of an application to have 152 acres near La Center put in trust.
Last week, the Bureau of Indian Affairs announced the Cowlitz Tribe can use the land as an initial reservation and build a casino on it, pursuant to the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.
Clark County Chief Deputy Prosecutor Curt Wyrick said Monday that the county will rely on the terms of the 2007 ordinance.
Phil Harju, attorney for the tribe, said the tribe will stand by those terms.
The ordinance includes a limited waiver of sovereign immunity with regard to such issues as law enforcement, public health, fire protection, traffic and transportation, sewer and water and payments in lieu of property taxes.
The proposed $510 million casino-hotel complex is expected to face legal challenges.
Even barring legal challenges, Cowlitz Tribal Chairman William Iyall said last week it would be two years before construction began on the project, which would be built in phases.
Wyrick said when county commissioners signed off on the 2004 MOU, casino opponents pounced on the agreement on the belief that it would improve the tribe’s chances of having its trust application approved.
After a state hearings board declared the agreement invalid in June 2007, the Cowlitz enacted its gaming ordinance, embracing the same provisions contained in the county-tribe pact.
Harju said Monday that the federal government wanted to make sure the issues addressed in the gaming ordinance were covered, with or without a formal agreement with Clark County.
In addition to agreeing to reimburse county agencies for law enforcement and fire protection and allowing the Clark County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office to handle all violations of law in the absence of a tribal court, the ordinance states the tribe will comply with county health regulations.
The ordinance also states the tribe, which could choose just to follow federal development regulations, will follow county development codes that were in effect at the time of the MOU.
Taxes are covered in the ordinance, too.
The 152 acres is divided into eight tax parcels. For 2011 property taxes, the land has a total assessed value of $14 million, said Michelle Denman, tax services manager at the Clark County Treasurer’s Office. In 2010, the owners — Salishan-Mohegan, LLC, the tribe’s development partners — paid a total of $163,779 in property taxes.
Since the trust land will be taken off the tax rolls, the ordinance spells out how the tribe will compensate the county and local taxing districts.
And the reservation won’t be a place for non-Indians to avoid sales taxes.
Non-Indians will have to pay all applicable sales taxes, and “the tribe agrees to remit such sales tax to the State of Washington as required by state law,” according to the ordinance.
The tribe will also pay at least $50,000 to a county program to help treat compulsive gamblers.
