Following months of at times difficult discussions, the tribal council of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in North Carolina recently enacted legislation to pay off million in loans, including left on the new Cherokee Indian Hospital and million remaining on the tribe’s wastewater treatment plant. Legislation sponsor Principal Chief Patrick Lambert said, “It’s a pretty exciting time. It’s something that I always wanted to try to get accomplished on behalf of the tribe and I knew coming into office that would be one of my top priorities.” Tribal Council Chairman Bill Taylor added, “This is a very big day for the tribe. A very big day.”
Frequently volatile talks revolved around paying off the debt or making installments on it. “We had some pretty hard discussions on this from the beginning,” said Councilmember Travis Smith. Vice Chairman Brandon Jones stated, “I’m totally for paying off the debt. The reason I didn’t support it was because the budget stabilization fund was set up so that if we had lean times again we would have a fallback plan. I didn’t agree with using that money to pay off the debt. Now we don’t have any reserves for a rainy day.”
Councilmember Anita Lossiah added, “You will have more money in the end once these loans are paid off if you leave it in there and pay it on the payment plan but based on our work sessions we also have to incorporate the possibility of volatility on our investment.” However, in the long run, Jones said, “It’s kind of a wash.”
Although the tribe paid off two significant loans, it still owes about $600 million on Harrah’s Cherokee and Harrah’s Valley River casinos. The tribe also has plans for a $100 million adventure park, an athletic training park for seniors, a senior center in Snowbird and retail development among other projects. “There’s a lot of things that we’re working on,” Lambert said. He added the tribe plans to finance future projects out of pocket instead of taking out loans. “Just in the last six months alone, over $1.1 million was saved just in a reduction in the waste and reducing resources,” Lambert said.
Still, regarding paying down the tribe’s debts, Councilmember Teresa McCoy noted, “This was a good time to do it. It’s a great time to recover, and I’m just looking forward to us being debt-free and reaccumulating a lot of money.”
