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About Spilyay tymoo. (Warm Springs, Or.) 1976-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 13, 2013)
Spilyay Tym Coyote News, est. 1976 N ovem ber 13, 2013 P.O. Box 870 Warm SDrinns, OR 97761 OREGON HISTOWCW.8 0 0 ' ^ 1230 S * ^ ¿ 97205 PORTLAND, OR V oi. 38, ino . 21 November - Anaku Ipach’aanxa Yaamash Dave McMechan photos. Korean War veteran Paul Anderson was a Guest of Honor in the Veterans Day Parade in Madras on Monday. (See page 12 for more on the parade). Korean War veteran Reggie Winishut was a Guest of Honor in the parade. Finance summary explains budget challenge project. The two referendums failed for lack o f voter participation. There are other potential solu tions that Council is diligently explor ing. For now, though, the budget sce nario can best be explained by ref erence to the summary provided by management. These are som e o f the key points: Question: Why are in the finan cial situation we are today? Answer: Simple, we spent more than we have had coming in. Cut backs were never made to align the Postage PRSRTSTD Warm Springs, OR 97761 50 cents Cigarette tax refund to increase On Veterans Day Tribal Finance and management provided a budget explanation re cently, outlining the challenge fac ing the tribes in 2014 and beyond. The key to resolving the situa tion is to develop some new rev enue source. It was toward this goal that Tribal Council earlier this year p ro p o sed the m o to rsp o rts park ECRWSS stai Patron organization with the decreased rev enue. F unds from savings w ere taken to offset the deficits. Now that savings are no longer available, the organization has no choice than to cut back. I f the m oney is n ot in the bank, the checks cannot go out. In the past ten. years, operating revenue was never sufficient to fund everything the tribal govern m ent spent (including p er ’ capita, S en io r P en sio n , an d b o n u ses). Sources were pulled from savings to balance the budgets . .. Starting in 2008, revenues dras tically declined; however, operations reductions were n ot taken. Instead, sources from sayings were utilized to offset the deficits... Question: W hat is the leading factor to the decline in revenue? Answer: Enterprise revenue has been the leading factor to the de cline in revenue to the tribes. W ith out sustainable enterprise revenue, th e o rganization m u st decrease spending. , Question: H ow m uch is per capita in 2014? Answer: D ue to the substantial decline in enterprise revenue, per capita will only funded at $25 per person in 2014. I f new revenug is ot genera red before 2015 and y&ars to come, the sustainability o f per capita will n o t be maintained. New re v e n u e so u rces are critically needed. I f per capita were to re m ain u n ch an g ed , tru st revenue sources would deplete by 2015, and governm ent operations would have to drastically reduce direct services to the membership. Question: H ow much is Senior Pension distributions in 2014? Answer: Similar to per capita, due to the substantial decline in revenue, th e Senior P ension fund has a limited balance. To •sustain d istrib u tio ns fo r two years tp ensure seniors are re ceiving b enefits in 2014 and 2015, the balance proposed per m onth would be reduced to $300 per senior for 60 years o f age and older. I f the senior distribu tio n s' rem ain unchanged, the funds will run out in 2014, and w ithout new revenue projected in 2015, the distributions will not be made. By reducing it now, this will provide time to generate new revenue, partially supplem ent senior .benefits, and hopefully new revenue will be earned by the end o f 2015 to replenish the senior distribution for the 2016 budget year. See BUDGET on page 12 Academy Open House T h e C o n fed erated T ribes, school district 509-J, and the con struction contractor hosted an open house last week at the con s tru c tio n site o f th e W arm Springs K-8 Academy. There was a lunch o f chili and bread. The weather held out, and the visitors w ere able to to u r the grounds. They saw that the school gymnasium is taking shape, and the work is progressing on the main building o f the school. The m ain building will be 80,000 square feet in size. The main bus entrance to the school will be o ff o f Tenino. Open house event included lunch by the construction trailers. Dave McMechan/Spilyay The O regon Legislature voted last m onth to increase the state tax on cigarettes. This will result in some additional revenue to the Con federated Tribes. Through H ouse Bill 3601, O r egon lawmakers voted to increase the state tax on cigarettes by 13 cents per pack. Through its arrangement with the state, the tribes should receive an additional $40,000 to $50,000 in cigarette tax refund, as a result o f the tax increase. The tribes in recent years have received over $280,000 in state ciga rette tax refund. W ith the 13-cent increase per pack, the refund will go up by a corresponding amount. The cigarette refund arrangement goes back to 1979, w hen the U.S. Supreme C ourt issued a ruling ex empting from state tax on-reserva- tiori cigarette sales to Indians. The Confederated Tribes entered into an inter-governmental agree m ent with the State o f O regon and adopted Tribal O rdinance No. 59. See REFUND on page 9 Many sign up through new health care system As widely reported, the , Cover O regon/A ffordable H ead h Care program has had trouble in its on line component. However, many local people are visiting the Warm Springs clinic and signing up with paper applications. They are qualifying for expanded Medicaid. The clinic has a team o f assistors w ho are there .to help people through the process. There are significant benefits— both to the individual, and to the tribes-— from members signing up for health insurance. All m em bers currently receive medical care at the Indian Health Service clinic in Warm Springs, and at hospitals in the region. Under the new program, members continue to have this option. A nd they face no penalty for not signing up for health insurance through Cover Oregon. For individuals w ho sign up for expanded Medicaid, the options for care are greater. In addition, for the tribal organization, the billing op tions are increased for the partici pating individuals. G reater billing options will bring revenue for In dian Health Services and the tribes’ Health and Human Services to bring in m ore specialty care. See HEALTH CARE on page 9
