Wisconsin tribes seek agreement on revenue sharing

Wednesday, June 21, 2000 | 8:13 a.m.

Under the terms of the proposed agreement, the municipalities would receive payments of more than $25 million over an eight-year period, the tribes said Tuesday.

Towns would receive amounts equal to 100 percent of their 1998 property tax base, while villages would get 50 percent. A 5 percent non-compounded annual escalator will be applied through the life of the agreement.

The agreement also calls for the casino to establish a beneficial foundation for the municipalities in the amount of $1 million at the end of the casino's second full year of operation.

An additional $1 million per year will be added starting at the end of the ninth year of operations.

The plan comes less than a month after the Red Cliff, Mole Lake and Lac Courte Oreilles Chippewa bands settled a $175 million lawsuit with the city of Hudson that had held up efforts to build a casino at the St. Croix Meadows dog track in Hudson.

The group's petition to open a casino is now pending before the Bureau of Indian Affairs. If the bureau approves the plan, the tribes still need Gov. Tommy Thompson's approval. He has said in the past that he will not support a casino in a community that opposes gambling.