News
Tribes seek state funds for economic development; Martz balks
Economic development on tribal lands was a leading concern of the American Indian leaders who met with Gov. Judy Martz at their third annual government-to-government meeting Friday.
By ALLISON FARRELL
Gazette State Bureau
From developing a wind power facility on the Crow Indian Reservation to restarting the idled pencil factory on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation, tribal leaders said they need to kick start the economy on their respective lands.
And they’re hoping that about $154,000 that sits in the State-Tribal Economic Development Commission’s operating budget will help rev their economic engines.
"We’re talking about reconstruction all over the world," said Carl Venne, chairman of the Crow Tribe. "We need to start reconstructing the reservations."
Geri Small, president of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe, said each Indian nation has some economic development project that could benefit from a share of the money. The state’s tribal nations each want about $20,000 of the $154,000, Small said.
But state officials are not sure that state law will allow the commission to divvy up that money and give it to the tribal nations.
"It’s not quite that easy, that you just split it up," Martz said.
The 1999 Legislature created the commission to facilitate tribal economic development. The Legislature appropriated $200,000 to the commission back in 1999, $154,000 of which remains, said Lori Ryan, interim coordinator of the Governor’s Office of Indian Affairs.
Ryan said that dividing up the money among the tribal nations is not only illegal, but would bankrupt the commission’s operating budget, too.
Indian leaders on Friday said that the money, while not much, would be $20,000 more than each tribe has now.
"The tribes need some money to get their people going," said Chief Earl Old Person of the Blackfeet Tribe. "Our people, they want to do something. And we need to join hands to do that."
State administrators, who also talked about Medicaid and other issues with tribal leaders Friday, said the reservations could do more to cash in on the booming health care industry. The federal government pays for 100 percent of the health care bills incurred by tribal members who receive Medicaid services at Indian Health Services’ offices.
"We need to figure out how to get them registered quickly," said Kyle Hopstad, consultant for Indian Health Services in Billings.
Simplifying the 17-page form that Montanans must fill out for Medicaid would go a long way toward increasing the tribal rolls, leaders said.
To further improve state-tribal relations, Martz made the director of her Office of Economic Development, David Gibson, the point-man for tribal representatives interested in discussing their economic development initiatives with the state.
Tribal leaders said both tribes and the state need to improve their follow-through on collaborative initiatives. Martz said she would like nothing more than to help American Indians foster development.
"I want us to work together," she said at the close of Friday’s morning meeting. "But it’s a two-way street."
Copyright © The Billings Gazette, a division of Lee Enterprises.
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