There was no comment by the Hopkins Township Board Monday night in the wake of the news the federal government has allowed the Gun Lake Tribe to take the Nowak property into trust.
There has been speculation Hopkins Township will appeal the decision and it has hired attorney Thaddeus E. Morgan of the Fraser Trebilcock firm in Lansing to do legal battle on its behalf.
Citizen Bob Beck, who has been very vocal about the matter in the past year, asserted Monday night that the Township Board has wasted $22,800 of taxpayers’ money on legal fees involving this fight with the tribe.
“If this is wrong, please feel free to provide me with the correct figure,” Beck told the board, maintaining all board members except Clerk Eric Alberta are culpable for spending nearly 40 percent of the annual township tax revenue of about $57,000.
Supervisor Mark Evans has insisted the township losing the Nowak parcel at 12th Street and 129th Avenue will result in a loss of $2,482.37 in annual tax revenue for one site and an additional $243.46 for the other. Evans also contends the township is losing $4,383.19 in tax revenue annually after the Jiak Foundation camp and $416.87 at an adjacent site were taken into trust by the tribe several years ago.
The Tribe indeed paid taxes on the property for one year while making the request to have the land taken into trust, but before that it had been tax free because it was being used until 2010 by the non-profit Mel Trotter Ministries organization.
Evans, in a Township Board meeting last month, produced a written communication that added up the total property tax losses and pegged them at $7,525.89 for 2018. However, the $4,800 from Jijak was not taxed after 2011 because it was taken into trust by the federal government, making it non-taxable
Trustee Bob Modreske defended Evans at the close of Monday night’s meeting, saying that he has agreed with the supervisor in holding the tribe accountable by paying property taxes.
“I feel they (the tribe) live in our community,” he said. “I feel they need to support our community like everyone else.”
In other business at the meeting Monday night, the Township Board:
- Adopted an ordinance to opt out of permitting marijuana to be bought or sold within its borders, joining Watson, Martin, Leighton and Dorr townships.
Evans said that according to state rules, “If we don’t have an ordinance to opt out, we’re in.”
- Agreed to pay up to $2,000 to repair playground equipment at the park.
- Was told by Evans that there is nothing official yet, but it appears a fire agreement has been reached with the Gun Lake Tribe about fire services for the Jijak Foundation property.
