Kalispel seek property tax exemption
The Kalispel Tribe is seeking tax-free status for more than 250 acres of tribal land that could become home to a new big-box store and other development in Airway Heights.
That has some City Council members and residents asking questions. “This is not a huge, exciting concept to me,” said Councilman Rick Jacks.
Currently, the tribe pays taxes on the land that is rich in basalt rocks. However, the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs advised the city on June 4 that the tribe has applied to change the land’s status to tax-exempt. The city has until early July to respond, but the decision ultimately rests with the BIA.
“The city can respond, express displeasure, and the BIA could take it under consideration,” said Tom Lien, Airway Heights director of community development.
The change affects only property taxes. Non-tribal businesses on the land would be obligated to pay sales taxes to the state of Washington, and Airway Heights would get a portion. The tribe has indicated it would negotiate an annual payment to help cover the city’s costs of providing services, as it already has done with its Northern Quest Casino, Lien said.
“People need to understand we’ve worked with the tribe in the past. There is nothing preventing us from working with them in the future,” Lien said at a city hearing on the matter Thursday night.
That hearing drew six people, including Paul Wilson and former Spokane County planner Wally Hubbard, who represent the tribe’s community planning and developing department. Hubbard outlined the plan, which could include the development of a business park, 20 to 30 housing units and perhaps a Wal-Mart or “those kinds of things.”
The 252 acres is south of the tribe’s casino, south of Sprague Avenue, west of Hayford Road and east of Russell Road. A portion is north of U.S. Highway 2. The land has access to drinking water and sewers.
Hubbard said the project would give Airway Heights an economic boost, just as the casino has done. The hundreds of casino workers need places to live, he noted, and this land could provide some of that housing.
“The negative side,” Lien told the council, “is if you put the land into trust, you take it off the tax payroll.”
For 2004, the tribe will pay about $27,000 in taxes on the land to Airway Heights, Great Northern and Cheney school districts and Spokane County. Because the tribe’s plans aren’t set, there’s no way of telling how much the taxes would increase if the land were developed and remained taxable. “I don’t see how Wal-Mart on tribal land will help Airway Heights,” Councilman John Holloway said.