From Ludington Daily News:
PETOSKEY — The Emmet County Local Revenue Sharing Board’s method of dividing tribal casino profits among local governments was wrong, a judge ruled recently.
Charlevoix County Circuit Court Judge Richard Pajtas made the ruling in a suit three Petoskey area school boards brought against the revenue sharing board, according to Dennis O. Cawthorne, a former state representative from Manistee who represented the school boards through the law firm Kelley Cawthorne, which he heads with former Michigan Attorney General Frank Kelley.
Cawthorne recently notified Manistee Area Public Schools Superintendent Bob Olsen about the Emmet County decision and said it proves the Manistee Local Revenue Sharing Board is correct in the way it handles allocations from slot machine profits at the Little River Casino Resort.
“A few people in Manistee County government in the past have advocated the Manistee LRSB should use Emmet County as a model for calculating distributions. (The court’s) decision finally and properly shuts the door on that. Manistee’s current calculation for distributing funds is fully vindicated by the … circuit court decision,” Cawthorne stated in his letter to Olsen. “Manistee’s LRSB is doing it right.”
The Little River Casino Resort is owned by the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians, which doesn’t pay taxes on the property because it is held in trust for the tribe by the federal government.
The tribe does, however, give 2 percent of its slot machine profits to the Manistee Local Revenue Sharing Board. That revenue sharing was stipulated in the agreement the tribe and state reached before the state government allowed the tribe to build the casino.
Most of the money is allocated in the form of payments in lieu of taxes to local governments that would receive taxes on the casino property if the tribe paid taxes. Those governments are Manistee Area Public Schools, Manistee County, West Shore Community College, Manistee Intermediate School District and Manistee Township.
Representatives of the county government argued in 2003 that PILT should not be paid to the school districts or college. The issue was resolved after the MAPS school board voted to sue the revenue sharing board unless the PILT was paid.
Olsen is pleased with the Emmet County decision.
“It makes us happy that indeed the ruling shows they should be following our model,” Olsen said, adding that Manistee County officials had previously suggested the Manistee Local Revenue Sharing Board allocations should have been modeled on the Emmet County board.
Manistee County Administrator Tom Kaminski, who also provides administrative support for the revenue sharing board, said the Emmet County Local Revenue Sharing Board was allocating its funds in a manner totally different than the Manistee board.
Recently, the Onekama Consolidated School District raised questions about PILT payments made by the Manistee revenue sharing board. Kaminski said the board hired attorney Lance Bolorey Monday to provide an opinion about Onekama’s eligibility for PILT.
Glenn Zaring, spokesman for the tribe, provided the following statement from the tribe: “The tribal government of the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians has no input concerning the distribution formula of the Manistee County Revenue Sharing Board by design of our compact agreement. Therefore, we feel it is inappropriate for us to comment upon their process.”
Turtle Talk 