TULALIP — The recession is taking its toll on revenues at the Tulalip Tribes’ Quil Ceda Village, but the operations are meeting reduced expectations and the Tulalips are paying their debts.
That was the word from Mel Sheldon, chairman of the tribal board of directors, during a Friday speech at the Greater Marysville-Tulalip Chamber of Commerce.
“Our economy may have left us, but I believe that soon it will bounce back,” he said.
Sheldon didn’t provide numbers, but he said in an interview after the talk that revenues from the tribal casinos started to slow in October of last year because of the faltering economy. The winter snows also had an effect, he said.
“We thought we had a nice (financial) cushion, but we used it up in the fall,” he said.
Sheldon said tribal elders have counseled him and other directors to be conservative in spending. “What we don’t want to do is have heavy projections and goals and not meet them,” he said.
He said that based on the 2008 numbers, the tribe made budget cuts for this year. But he said layoffs aren’t expected to be a part of the belt tightening.
“Layoffs will be a tool of last resort,” he said.
Sheldon said the tribes’ luxury hotel that opened last year has been doing pretty well, especially on weekends.
“Weekends are already good,” he said. “We’ve been filling hotel rooms, and (casino) play on the floor has been very good.”
He said it may take a year or so to continue to build the weekday part of the hotel’s business.
Sheldon said the Tulalips are looking to add businesses at Quil Ceda Village. Officials are:
Sheldon also noted that the tribes’ three-story administration building, which he said would cost “$34 million-plus and the plus is a big one” will open in July for 300 or more employees now housed in a variety of locations.
A tribal museum is set to open in the fall with the first special exhibit to feature tribal members who have served in the U.S. armed services.
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