Hopkins Township Supervisor Mark Evans and Sixth District Allegan County Commissioner Gale Dugan plan to be at the 4 p.m. meeting Wednesday of the Gun Lake Casino Revenue Sharing Board at the Tribe’s Government Offices on 129th Avenue.
Both plan to ask board members why the current revenue sharing arrangement for local governments doesn’t square with the original local compact agreement. The Revenue Sharing Board came up with a plan to distribute 2.5% each of total Gun Lake Casino gaming revenue for Hopkins, Dorr, Leighton, Martin and Yankee Springs townships and the City of Wayland, 50% to Wayland Township, 25% to Allegan County, 8% to Wayland Union schools and 2% to the Allegan Area Educational Services Agency.
Dugan and Hopkins Township officials insist that formula is very different than what was spelled out in the original compact, which says:
“Funds paid by the Tribe to the Local Revenue Sharing Board shall be held in an interest bearing account and the available funds shall be disbursed by the Board consistent with the following priorities:
“(a) Each unit of government shall first receive an amount equal to any specific actual costs incurred by that unit of government as the result of the development or operation of the Tribe’s Class III gaming facility, including payment to local units of government for police, fire, and public safety services.
“(b) Each unit of local government shall next receive an amount equivalent to the amount of ad valorem property taxes that the unit of government would have received if the Tribe’s Class III gaming facility were subject to ad valorem property taxes.
“( c) The balance of such funds remaining after the disbursements described in subparagraphs (a) and (b) shall be allocated and disbursed by the Board to eligible local units of government, including the Allegan County Intermediate School district and, if determined by the Board, the school district in which the Casino is located, to be used by those units of government for any lawful local government purpose.”
Hopkins Township has been at odds with the Gun Lake Tribe for some time, most recently objecting to a request to the U.S. Department of Interior to take a 130-acre parcel into a trust, thereby depriving the township of tax revenue for the property. The township also is demanding the Tribe negotiate an agreement for taking the Jijak Foundation property into a trust four years ago, even though the site formerly was not taxed.
The township has retained the services of high-powered attorney Thaddeus Morgan from Lansing to handle the legal issues.
Trustee Bob Modreski formally asked Evans to attend the meeting Wednesday to ask questions.
“We have an interest in what’s going on here,” he said. “We need them (the Revenue Sharing Board) to follow the compact.”
Modreski also asked why Henika Library in Wayland, which has taxing authority, is not included in revenue disbursements.
Meanwhile, The Bureau of Indian Affairs in the U.S. Department of the Interior continues to deliberate on the Gun Lake Tribe’s request to take into trust the 130-acre parcel zoned commercial, but used for farming near 128th Avenue and 12th Street.