ACHTUNG: This is not a “fair and balanced” article. It is an editorial by the editor.

Hopkins Township Supervisor Mark Evans last Monday night produced a “poop sheet” asserting that the township is losing a lot more tax revenue than reported earlier because of the Gun Lake Tribe taking land into federal trust.

I hereby apologize for underestimating tax revenue loss, but assert there’s a lot more to this issue that is being overlooked.

I reported erroneously in previous stories and editorials that the parcel at 129^th Avenue and 12^th Street the tribe seeks to have taken into trust amounted only to a loss in local tax revenue of less than $500 per year. Evans produced a much higher figure, at $2,482.37. Furthermore, he identified a nearby parcel that would mean a loss of additional $243.46.

However, his “poop sheet” also contends the township is losing $4,383.19 annually with the Jiak Foundation camp and $416.87 with an adjacent site that were taken into trust by the tribe several years ago. These figures should not be claimed in the loss column because the Jijak property before taken into trust, was used by the non-profit Mel Trotter Ministries, and therefore wasn’t bringing in any property tax revenue.

Evans added up the total property tax losses he claims and pegged it at $7,525.89 for 2018. He is wrongly counting nearly $4,800 from Jijak that was not taxed before it was taken into trust.

So actually, Hopkins Township is really losing a little more than $2,700 annually with the loss of revenue from the Nowak property, a little more than a third of what the supervisor claims. And that’s only if the U.S. Department of the Interior allows the Nowak parcel to be taken into trust.

Furthermore, also overlooked is the announcement that the township last month was awarded just shy of $19,000 for six months from the tribe as part of a revenue sharing agreement. If the Gun Lake Casino does as well for the rest of the year, the annual figure for income to the township will be almost $38,000.

That income is wildly higher than what the township will lose with loss of property revenue.

And another thing. As I opined not long ago, the Gun Lake Casino is tied for being the third largest employer in Allegan County.

I’m not done yet. The township already has spent more than $14,000 of public tax dollars on a high-powered attorney from Lansing to fight the Gun Lake Tribe.

It’s not rocket science to come up with the conclusion that the Hopkins Township Board has exhibited poor stewardship of its constituents’ tax dollars. And it has been a bad neighbor, at best.

This situation should not be allowed to continue. The township must cut its losses, swallow its pride and make friends with the tribe.