Some tribal council members felt they had been misled about the source of funding for the newly created Cherokee Preservation Foundation.

Wolfetown representative Larry Blythe and others assumed the new foundation would not affect per capita payments.

However, the recently adopted Second Amendment to the compact explains how the funding will come from total gaming revenue, which means it will be deducted before the per capita checks to individual tribe members are calculated. Enrolled members of the tribe receive direct payments from profits at Harrah’s Cherokee casino.

Council member Bob Blankenship called the funding, “a cost of doing business. For anyone to get per capita we have to operate a profitable facility,” Blankenship said. He said the new compact would allow the tribe to increase profits, thus increasing per capita.

Blythe, who introduced a resolution to change the funding scheme, saw it differently.

“We need to put every dime we can toward per capita,” Blythe said.

He told the council he was passionate about protecting per capita. “We were not told, as a council, up front [that per capita would be affected.] If we had been told six months ago, I would have argued it then,” he said.

Blythe’s resolution would amend Sections 16-27 and 16-41 of the Cherokee Code to ensure that funding for the foundation would come from the tribal government’s share of gaming revenue and not the per capita share.

Council members Teresa McCoy and Mary Ann Thompson of Big Cove said they discussed the foundation with their constituents.

“Our community told us how to vote - leave it as an operating expense, let the gaming revenue fund it,” Thompson said.

Principal Chief Leon Jones said the Eastern Band had the best compact in the United States.

“I guarantee, per capita will double,” Jones said.

“The $5 million will come back to us to preserve our heritage, our language and help our town. This will benefit this tribe,” he said.

Tribal finance officer, Michelle Hicks told the council that he felt the best business solution was to finance the fund through gaming revenues. According to Hicks, Harrah’s would pay 17 percent of the foundation’s endowment if the money came from revenue.

McCoy, who said she voted against the creation of the foundation as a sovereignty issue, stated, “It’s never been a money thing with us. I hope and pray this Tribe never becomes a per capita Tribe.”

Council Chairman Dan McCoy called for a vote on the resolution. Today we make a business decision - do we share the cost of the foundation or do we take it from the tribe’s 50 percent of net, asked McCoy?

The council voted to kill Blythe’s resolution.

 

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The Smoky Mountain News