Testimony in a lawsuit brought in federal court to attempt to tax the Quil Ceda Village stores owned by the Tulalip Tribes of Washington, opened up the financial health of the tribe to rare scrutiny.
Gaming has helped the tribe amass nearly $1 billion in unencumbered cash, according to the testimony of accountant Todd Menenberg. Most gaming tribes jealously guard information about their finances.
For a brief moment Menenberg shone some light. Due to “very good, prudent stewardship” “This is an amazingly rich organization. It has very large assets and very minimal debt.”
This is a complete reversal from the state of things in the 1970s, when nearly three quarters of the tribe’s adults were unemployed. Today, the 4,800 members of the tribe don’t have that problem.
The shopping mall the tribe owns known as Quil Ceda Village was the subject of the lawsuit in which the tribe asked the court to recognize its exclusive right to tax the property, and to prevent the state or Snohomish County from collecting taxes on sales to non-Indians in the tribal stores. The federal government recognized the 2,100 acres of the Village as a political subdivision of the tribe in 2001. Currently only commercial properties exist on the land.
The state collected almost $27 million in sales tax from the Village two years ago. The tribe wants to keep that money, as well as the $9 million the transit district collected during the same period.
The state and county argue that local government support the village by maintaining Interstate 5, which runs next to it, along with policing and maintaining other roads.
The U.S. Department of Justice has intervened to support the tribe.
Menenberg was hired by the state and county as an expert witness. He reviewed financial statements not normally available to the public. “There is no evidence that Tulalip is under economic hardship,” he testified.
The tribe had attempted to keep the tribe’s gaming revenue and dividend payments confidential, but the judge denied that request.
Menenberg noted that in 2015 the tribe netted $190 million, many times more than the tribe’s other sources of income such as taxes and retail revenues. At the end of that year the tribe had $300 million in cash and bonds, he said, and only $40 million in long-term debt. Government operations accounted for another $137 million, he said.
The tribe pays a dividend of $16,000 per person annually.
Closing briefs will be filed with the court at the end of June.
