Tulalips’ annual payment delayed

Published 9:00 pm Friday, November 28, 2003

TULALIP — The Tulalip Tribes did not have the money to pay each tribal member $1,000 for Thanksgiving, but plan to honor a payment for Christmas of the same amount.

Herman Williams Jr., chairman of the tribe’s board of directors, said Friday that some tribal members are angry that they didn’t receive the payment before Thanksgiving, and that anger has fueled lies that the board has large amounts of money stashed away.

The Tulalips aren’t in financial trouble, but have to be careful because they have a $120 million loan to pay off within five years, Williams said. That loan included construction of the new casino, along with $6 million toward the tribe’s new health clinic and construction of a sewer treatment plant.

Tribal officials did make a misstep by overestimating how much money the new casino would bring in, Williams said.

"We thought we were going to be an instant success and every machine was going to have a body in front of it," he said. "We’re making more money than we ever made; it’s just that we have a problem with overhead."

He said a consultant has been hired to look at operations and make recommendations.

At a semiannual general council meeting in October, tribal members voted for the $1,000 payment.

"We tried to show them our financial situation, and the people just don’t want to believe it," Williams said.

He called for a special board meeting Tuesday, and the boardroom was full of tribal members who wanted the payments.

The anger over the lack of a payment prompted some tribal members to file a petition calling for a vote of no confidence in Williams. The Tulalips have scheduled a special general council meeting Dec. 13 for a vote on that petition.

"We’ve done a review of our finances, and it is pretty tight," said Stan Jones Sr., the board’s vice chairman. Despite that, Jones said they plan to make a Christmas payment. But he said some decisions need to be made.

"I believe our membership needs to make a decision whether we’re going to be a program tribe or a per capita tribe. I think we have more programs for our members than all the other tribes combined," Jones said.

The Tulalips provide many programs for elders, but not enough for teenagers, he added.

"I think the majority of the people want us to be a success for the future generations," he said.

Each year, tribal members make requests for programs. But when some tribal members ask for a cash payment, that gets in the way of projects, Williams said.

As for the no-confidence vote, "They’ll vote one way or the other, and that’s all the action we can take," Jones said. "We can’t recall him. We have no recall here."

Under the tribe’s constitution, only a vote of five of the seven board members can remove another board member from office, and only after that person has had an opportunity to respond to allegations, Williams said.

Williams and Jones are up for re-election in 2004. Williams has been on the board for 15 years and plans to seek one more term, he said.

Before the new casino opened in June, the Tulalips had fewer financial obligations because the old casino was paid off, Williams said.

"There are certain clauses in our (loan) contract that say we have to have certain levels of money set aside to pay on our loan and for business.

"If we had paid out the per capita, we would not have had enough money for our obligation to the banks," he said.

If that happens, the banks come in and dole out the money instead of the Tulalips deciding how to spend it, he said.

Williams said once the casino is paid for, there will be more money for everybody. But he’s not happy about the way some people are acting.

"I think the direction that we’re going — or that certain citizens of the Tulalip Tribes are trying to lead us to — is anarchy," he said.

The casino’s finances undergo an annual review by a top auditing firm, he said.

"The hardest thing in the world is to be fiscally responsible. If we gave the money out, these same people would be the ones to bring us up on charges of mismanagement or malfeasance," he said.

Reporter Cathy Logg: 425-339-3437 or logg@heraldnet.com.