As sovereign nations, Oregon Indian tribes aren’t subject to the local and state laws that would require them to pay property taxes or collect occupancy taxes from guests at their hotels.
The flip side is that municipalities aren’t required to handle sewage, dispatch police or put out fires on tribal-owned land that’s exempt from such laws.
That’s why some tribes, including the owners of the Three Rivers Casino in Florence and The Mill Casino in North Bend, have inked deals with their corresponding city governments in which they agree to make such payments anyway — in exchange for sewer services and police and fire protection.
Critics of casinos in Oregon have long questioned whether those contracts would hold up in a court of law, given that tribes remain sovereign governments immune from being sued in a U.S. court, in the same sense that the city of Florence couldn’t sue France. Now comes a potential test of that question.
Since January, the Coquille Tribe hasn’t been paying its agreed-upon amount for occupancy taxes for the Mill, which by the end of last month represented about an $88,000 hit to North Bend’s general fund. Tribal attorney Brett Kenney says that’s because the Coquilles have tried and failed over the past year to renegotiate the agreement with the city, and that the money is being “set aside” until a new deal can be worked out. North Bend Mayor Rick Wetherell said he’s frustrated about the turn of events, which affects not just the city’s budget but also funding for regional tourism efforts, as some of the occupancy tax is funneled toward that purpose.
“We are extremely disappointed,” Wetherell said. “In the past, we’ve had a cooperative working relationship with the Coquille Indian Tribe.”
Wetherell is mum, on the advice of city attorneys, about what legal recourse North Bend may have in response to the standoff, whether the city will try to sue the tribe or withhold the services it provides to the casino because the Coquilles aren’t paying their bills. Kenney said he’s confident a new agreement can be reached.
“A lot of things have changed in the past 14 years for the tribe,” Kenney said. “This is an effort to make sure the tribe pays its fair share.”
Because Kenney said he doesn’t want to negotiate the contract in the press, he won’t say how the deal with the city could become any more fair. Kenney said the tribe is paying more than other property owners and hotel and motel owners in the city, but the agreement specifically refutes that claim:
“(The Coquille Economic Development Corporation) and the Tribe agree that the City will be paid at the same rate for occupied rooms at any motel or hotel operated at The Mill as are charged to other motels and hotels within the City under present and future ordinance provisions,” the agreement reads. The property tax rate is also equal to the city’s rate, according to the contract.
Kenney said it’s unfair that the city receives more in payments from the tribe than it would from another taxpayer. However, that’s because the money from the Coquilles doesn’t get split up among various taxing districts, as it does with property taxes. The total amount the tribe pays isn’t more than others would pay, he acknowledged, though he added that the agreement has no sunset clause.
“The agreement was entered into at a time when the tribe had few resources at its disposal,” Kenney said.
This bargaining tactic follows an apparently rough period for the tribe’s finances. After a $40 million expansion of its hotel last year, the casino laid off 7 percent of its work force — 37 employees — in October, saying the global economic downturn had taken its toll on people’s willingness to spend money on leisure-related activities.
Last year, the tribe paid $440,000 in lieu of taxes to the city, so the $88,000 it is holding back for the first half of this year is only a fraction of that. But if the city decides it’s a perfectly reasonable amount — because it’s based on what anyone else would pay — it could raise some interesting questions about tribal sovereignty.
In dozens of court cases across the United States in recent years, municipal governments and private citizens have found themselves unable to force Indian tribes to even show up in court. There is a waiver of sovereign immunity in the tribe’s contract with North Bend, but the city has never tried to sue the Coquilles in the past, so that language has never been tested in court.
Kenney said he would let the waiver “speak for itself,” adding that the tribe is committed to ensuring that the casino and its hotel continue to receive the city services it has in the past. He said he expects to meet with city leaders in the next few weeks to work out a new agreement.
“A lot of things have changed in the past 14 years for the tribe.”
— Brett Kenney, tribal attorney
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