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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Yakamas $6 Million In The Red $100,000 In Weekly Interest Could Jeopardize Tribe’s Payroll

Associated Press

The Yakama Indian reservation is $6 million in the red and faces weekly interest charges of $100,000, a tribal official said.

General Council Secretary Leo Aleck confirmed reports Tuesday that the tribe has accumulated the multimillion-dollar deficit.

“… It was announced the tribe was in a $6 million deficit and it was growing at a rate of $100,000 a week. That’s how bad it was, and still is,” Aleck said at a citizens meeting in Toppenish, Wash.

Details on why the debt is increasing so quickly will be released in a tribal newspaper, Aleck says.

Tribal Council members met last week to discuss “indirect costs” which apparently were responsible for racking up the deficit, Aleck said.

Tribal members Roseline and William Charley organized the “town house meeting,” one of three planned this week. The meeting’s objective was to discuss mounting concerns over Yakama Nation business.

Aleck was the only elected tribal official in the audience of about 20.

The $6 million deficit had been reported by an independent auditor last week, but Aleck said the tribe’s own financial report conflicted with the auditor’s finding. Tribal officials are continuing to meet on the issue this week and are working to resolve it, he said.

“The auditor made his report again, indicating that the tribe had a $6 million deficit and the tribe was going to have to pick that up,” Aleck said. “If the tribe was going to take trust money, then that’s what the tribe was going to have to do.”

The deficit and interest payments quickly may affect the tribe.

“… There were some staff people who made a report that by June of this year, the tribe will be running into a problem meeting the payroll for all the tribal members. That’s how bad this deficit is,”