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About Spilyay tymoo. (Warm Springs, Or.) 1976-current | View Entire Issue (April 17, 2013)
Spilyay Tymoo A p r i l - Hawi fa n Voi. 38, No. 8 Spring - Wawaxam 50 cents K-8 construction expected to start in July T h e . C onfederated Tribes and school district 509-J are expecting to begin construction on the new W arm Springs k-8 school in July, maybe a little sooner. “We are still planning to have the construction complete in July 2014,” said Urbana Ross, tribal chief op erations officer. “And we expect the school to open in September 2014.” There had been some delay in tribes’ securing funding from the USDA. T he tribes had to dem on strate a secondary sourcè o f repay ment, which they now have done (see story below). This has delayed the construction start date. T he regional USDA office re cently reviewed and approved the tribes’ funding inform ation, and forwarded the recom mendation to the Washington,'D.C., office for fi nal approval. As soon as the tribes receive the USDA loan approval, then construction can proceed, Ross said. “A nd we’re hoping to receive that approval— called a letter o f c o n d itio n s^ in May,” she said. T he tribes are borrow ing $6.5 million through the USDA. T he tribes have also designated approxi mately $3.5 million in tribal fund ing to the project. Jefferson County School District 509-J is matching the am ount with a $10 million contribution funded through district property tax. The district last spring passed a $26 mil lion bond levy that includes the por tio n fo r the W arm Springs school. Response to change in federal horse policy By Dave McMechan Tymoo 1 Spilyay Courtesy of BBT Architects. Conceptual rendering of the entrance area of the Warm Springs k-8 school. Cleaning, Blessing T he project manager for con struction o f the new school is the Wenaha Group, based in Pendleton; a n d m a jo rity -o w n e d by R o b T he group is also managing other upcom ing im provem ent projects w ithin the district, including the M adras H igh School perform ing arts center. The architect for the projects is BBT Architects o f Bend. The ar chitects, school board and local de sign team have worked through the fall and winter toward the final de sign o f the k-8 school. The main school building will be 80,000 square feet, or about the size o f the Jefferso n C ounty M iddle School. The school will be on 20 acres at the E ast Tenino-Chukar roads. The acreage w ill ac c o m m o d a te th e school buildings, sports facilities, Q uaem pts, Um atilla tribal m em ber. parking an d so forth. The Office o f the Chief O pera tions Officer has organized Clean ing and Blessing ceremony set for Friday, A p ril 26 at th e G reeley Heights school building site, fol lo w ed by lu n ch at th e A gency Longhouse. The gathering will be gin at 8 a.m.; with cleaning by Shaker Church members from 8:30-10:30 a.m. Blessing o f the grounds and W ashat will b e from 10:30 a.m.- N oon, followed by lunch. New school The Confederated Tribes and schdol d istrict recently com pleted a plan o f operation for the new school. MHS projects The two-story performing arts center will be located next to the new football stadium at the high school. T he center will be an es timated 18,800 square feet. The facility will have a large stage to accom m odate a band, a back stage w ith a green room , which will double as a practice facility and waiting room for stage p ro d u c tio n s , d re s sin g ro o m s, m ak eu p ro o m s an d sto rag e space. By the Warm Springs Tribal Council T ax Commission : ' •.........' ' ............. • . ........ 1 ' ------------Courtesy-of- Tribal'Finance'. Cigarette tax refund to the Tribe has been consistent over the years. average annual p er capita c o n sum ption o f cigarettes in O regon multiplied by the num ber o f en rolled Warm Springs tribal m em bers multiplied by the Oregon ciga rette tax rate per package. For 2012 the Tribes refund was $282,901. This was calculated as follows: average packs o f cigarettes per Oregonian is 47, times 2011 Tribal enrollm ent o f 5,101 m em bers, times $1.18 state tax per ciga rette pack equals $282,901.46. As you can see from the chart, the cigarette tax refunds to th e Tribe has been consistent from year to year. This refund to the Tribe is i The issue o f overpopulation of unclaimed horses is complex and contentious. This fact is dem on strated by a recent developm ent w ith in th e U.S. D e p a rtm e n t o f A g ricu ltu re , an d th e trib a l re sponse to the developm ent. T h e p ro b le m at h a n d is th e prevalence o f horses roaming across rangeland, much o f which is tribal reservation land. “Tribes participating in our or ganization occupy trust lands o f nearly 20 million acres,” said Jason Smith, P resident o f the N ational Tribal H orse Coalition. Sm ith, o f the W arm Springs N atural Resources B ranch, made the statem ent in a recent letter to Secretary o f the Agriculture T h o mas Vilsack. His letter outlines the complicated nature o f the horse-slaughter issue, pointing out, for instance, that the present federal policy “will inflict greater suffering to horses, and eco nomic and environmental hardship to Tribal nations.” See HORSE POLICY on page 9 ---- Dave McMechan Cigarette tax refund helping fund school In 1979, in response to a U.S. Supreme C ourt decision exempting from state tax on-reservation ciga rette sales to Indians, the Confed erated Tribes o f the Warm Springs Reservation o f O regon entered into an inter-governm ental agreem ent w ith th e S tate o f O re g o n an d adopted Tribal Ordinance No. 59. T he ordinance and agreem ent provide for a refund to the Tribe o f the pre-collected state tax on ciga rettes sold to Indians on the Warm Springs Reservation. The state cigarette tax is “pre collected” because it is paid by the o ff-re s e rv a tio n c ig a re tte wholesellers w ho place a tax stamp on each cigarette package and then sell them to reservation cigarette retailers w ho include the tax in the price o f cigarettes sold to their cus tomers. , T he inter-governm ental agree m ent is how the Tribe recovers the state tax included in the tax exempt cigarette sales to Indians on the res ervation. T he Tribe’s cigarette refund is based on a formula that takes the ECRWSS Postal Patron U.S. Postage PRSRTSTD Warm Springs, OR 97761 A pril 17, 2013 Coyote News, est. 1976 P.0. Box 870 Warm Springs, OR 97761 The Tribal Council has reestablished the Tate Commission... critically needed, particularly in re lation to the K-8 Warm Springs El ementary School project. ■ D ue to the lack o f a tax base on the reservation, and because the Tribal Constitution does n o t allow assets o f the Tribes to be pledged as collateral on loans, a steady tax revenue such as the cigarette tax refund is one o f the very few in come streams o f the Tribe that is flexible and can be used against Tribal borrowing. In this case, the Cigarette Tax refund is currently bein g pledged as security and so u rce o f rep ay m en t fo r the Tribe’s share o f the K-8 Warm S p rin g s E le m e n ta ry S ch o o l Project. As a result, it is critically im p ortant that the W arm Springs/ Oregon inter-governmental ciga rette tax refund agreem ent re mains, in place to ensure that this Tribal revenue stream continues to be available to service the debt on the K-8 School Project. I f this revenue stream were to not exist the bribes would need to find an additional source o f revenue to pledge to secure the new Warm Springs school financing. T he Tribal Council has re-es- 'tablished the Tax Commission per resolution 11,692. It is anticipated that all tax related m atters o f the Tribe will b e analyzed <?ver the next year. Any tax-related matters should be directed to the Tax Commission, which consists o f Secretary-Treasurer/ CEO, Tribal C ouncil Chair, T ribal C ouncil Vice-Chair, Warm Springs Chief Delvis H eath, Paiute Chief Joe M oses an d W asco C h ief J.R. Smith. Motorsports referendum- likely in M ay T h e p ro p o s e d m o to rs p o rts project on the reservation is still in the conceptual stage. There is a 1,000-aicre site location on M iller F la t th a t has m e t a prelim inary review by the W arm Springs N atural Resource Btanch. T h e re is a team , L io n sh e a d D e v e lo p m e n t, th a t has b een stu d y in g th e id ea w ith W arm Springs Ventures. “We’ve been working on this for a b o u t tw o y ears,” said J e f f Anspaeh, director o f Ventures. The preliminary plans have been presen ted at several com m unity meetings at each o f the longhouses, and at other gatherings. L an d -U se an d th e N a tu ra l R eso u rces B ran ch h av e b een involved through the process. T he project is now at a point where further consideration would ju stify a re fe re n d u m o f th e membership. Tribal Council heard this update last week, and agreed to set the matter for referendum on Tuesday, May 21. The coming weeks, then, w ill see in fo rm a tio n m eetin g s a ro u n d th e c o m m u n ity an d re s e rv a tio n on th e d etails an d potential for this project. Spring 73-ling! Win a Smoker Craft Tracer fishing boat Courtesy of Madras Pioneer or $10,000 Cash! See page 12 for details.
