The Tulalip Tribes have upped the ante in negotiations over construction of a new pier to serve the Boeing Co., saying offers from the Port of Everett are far short of what they need to give up treaty fishing rights.
The governor’s office has stepped into the breach and is looking at resurrecting a now-dead bill that would give the Tulalips millions in sales tax revenue spent at shops in the tribes’ Quil Ceda Village that now goes to Snohomish County.
And that has prompted one member of the Snohomish County Council, which opposes the tax shift, to call the move “a blatant power play.”
The hustle to reach an agreement comes at a time when the Legislature is nearing an end – adjournment is scheduled for Sunday – and as a deadline for beginning construction is fast approaching
The Tulalips hold the trump cards in the discussion over the pier because the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers won’t issue a federal permit without approval from them and other tribes who have traditionally fished in the area.
“When we get the tribal approvals, the corps is ready to issue the construction permits,” said John Mohr, director of the Port of Everett. “We already have our state permits. Now it’s a matter of getting this done.”
The pier, which would take Boeing jet parts from barges and load them onto railcars for delivery to the Everett plant, would be located just north of Mukilteo. It’s a short distance from Point Elliott, the site believed to be where a number of tribes signed a treaty in 1855 putting their lands into public domain in exchange for perpetual rights to fish in their traditional spots and for payments that mostly were never made.
Mohr said he thought he had a deal with the tribes that focused on developing a better fishery in adjacent areas, providing dock space and equipment to tribal fishermen and “hard core coordination” with them to coordinate activities. Earlier the port had also provided a written endorsement for the bill that would have allowed the tribes to collect sales tax revenue from businesses at Quil Ceda.
“We’re trying be sensitive to their needs and requests,” Mohr said, adding that during the negotiations “there’s been some shifting of priorities” toward the sales tax issue.
A measure that would have allowed the tax collection was approved in the state House, then killed in the Senate for a third straight year.
Tom Fitzsimmons, chief of staff for Gov. Christine Gregoire, said she has stepped into the talks because the pier was part of the state’s promise to Boeing when it agreed to build the 787 Dreamliner in Washington as opposed to another state.
The state agreed to spend about $15.5 million for the pier, which now is over budget by more than $5 million.
Fitzsimmons said the governor has agreed to facilitate the talks, and that it is her understanding that the tribes would find approval of the tax shift to be acceptable payment.
Rep. John McCoy, general manager of Quil Ceda Village as well as a state lawmaker, said the port didn’t have enough to come to an agreement.
“They have very limited resources,” he said. “From what I’m hearing the Port of Everett is trying to come up with an acceptable package. They’re not trying to stiff the tribe.”
McCoy described the tax bill and support for the new pier as “separate issues.”
“They are two different subjects,” he said, adding, “And it’s up to the Port of Everett to find an acceptable mitigation to the loss of treaty fishing rights. They’re the ones doing the taking.”
McCoy, who has lobbied for the tax bill even before winning election to the House, said it’s important because it provides a secure source for paying for basic services to the village and reservation, He also said it’s important for further business projects in the area because banks charge higher interest rates for loans if there aren’t tax proceeds that can be dedicated to pay them off.
The tribes have been trying to develop a host of business enterprises to reduce their reliance on gambling proceeds to help pay for tribal services and infrastructure.
Snohomish County, which would lose the money to the Tulalips, has opposed the move and asked that the tribes to identify services on the reservation that the county can stop providing.
“The sheriff alone tells me that services cost $700,000 a year,” council member John Koster said. “We hope to get back the dollars we’re going to lose.”
Koster also said he was concerned about the Boeing pier.
“It’s important to Boeing and to the economy of the whole region,” Koster said.
Mohr said if the negotiations aren’t completed by May 10, it will be difficult to select a contractor in time to start work in August, a time when pile-driving won’t harm young salmon.
Otherwise, the project would be completed in 2007, a year later than promised to Boeing.
McCoy said the urgency could have been avoided.
“If they had brought the tribes in when this issue first started up three years ago, we wouldn’t be having this conversation,” he said.
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