© 2023 Concerned Citizens of Western Montana
This is part 3 of a series on the Tribal Inheritance.
Per Capita Payments to Tribal Members are “Corporate Dividends”
Section 8 of the CS&K tribe’s Corporate Charter is titled Corporate Dividends. It provides that :
The tribe MAY issue to each of its members a non-transferable certificate of membership evidencing the equal share of each member in the assets of the tribe and MAY distribute per capita, among the recognized members of the tribe, all profits of corporate enterprises over and above sums necessary to defray corporate obligations to members of the tribe or to other persons and over and above all sums which may be devoted to the establishment of a reserve fund, the construction of public works, the costs of public enterprises, the expenses of tribal government, the needs of charity, or other corporate purpose. Any such distribution of profits in any 1 year amounting to a per capita cash payment of $100 or more, or amounting to a distribution of more than one-half of the accrued surplus, shall not be made without the approval of the Secretary of the Interior.
Per Capita Distributions
Corporate Dividends pertain to all per capita payments that are paid out to the membership, the annual per capita distributions as well as special distributions such as the $10,000 Cobell Settlement money that the members received in 2012.
The Tribal Council Minutes show that currently the annual per capita payments paid to tribal members are $1,200 per year as follows:
The Tribal Council minutes show that $400 payments are made to tribal members three times annually in December, April and August.
Minors: The policy also provides that ½ of each per capita distribution for each minor enrolled child is issued to their parent or legal guardian and the remaining ½ is places in a BIA trust account to accumulate and earn interest until minor reaches legal age.
Reimbursements for debt owed to the Tribe: The Director of Financial Management is authorized to apply per capita funds against debts of a tribal member including judgments held by Tribal Court, assignments through Tribal Credit, and voluntary child support and to those accounts under the control of the Superintendent.
The Per Capita is….
……SHRINKING
In 1954, the per capita payment to tribal members was $200, and in 2024, it is $1,200. While that may seem like a nice increase, what if we told you that the dollar in 1954 was worth far more than a 2024 dollar and when you convert that $200 to today’s money, if nothing else changed, the per capita should now be $2,300? That means that the $1,200 tribal members receive today have nearly 48% less purchasing power than the tribal members had in 1954. On the other side of that coin, the $1,200 tribal members receive today equal $105 1954 dollars. In other words in 2024 tribal members are receiving roughly half of the monetary value as tribal members received 70 years ago.
Here’s the Comparison:
Federal Spending on the Tribes is ……..
….GROWING
The 1954 Congressional Testimony for the termination of federal supervision over the Flathead Tribes showed that the federal budget for the tribe in 1954 was $150,000. In today’s dollars that would be a little more than $1.7 million dollars.
For the last 10 years or so, federal spending on the CSKT each year equals $170.8 million if you exclude the tribes’ “Aerospace Contracts,” and is a WHOPPING $436.2 million dollars if you include the “Aerospace contract” money.
Comparing that to the 1954 spending converted to 2024 dollars, the Feds are spending anywhere from 99 to 243 times more money on the tribes each year than it did in 1954!
No matter how you look at this kind of money, it cannot be called “self-determination.”
Tribal Corporate Enterprises
As a reminder, Section 8 of the CSKT Corporate says that the tribal government:
MAY distribute per capita, among the recognized members of the tribe, all profits of CORPORATE ENTERPRISES over and above sums necessary to defray corporate obligations to members of the tribe or to other persons and over and above all sums which may be devoted to the establishment of a reserve fund, the construction of public works, the costs of public enterprises, the expenses of tribal government, the needs of charity, or other corporate purpose.
The use of the word “May” means that the tribe can distribute the profits of its corporate enterprises, but it is not required to do so.
Since 1954, the number of corporate enterprises of the tribe has significantly grown as follows:
Is it possible that the per capita shrinkage over the past 70 years means that these tribal enterprises are all losing money? One would think that with the ownership of Kerr Dam and two Casinos, that the tribe would be making money hand over fist and at least some of it would be shared with the membership of the tribe. If these corporations are as profitable as the tribal government wants its membership and the world to believe, then WHERE IN THE WORLD ARE THE PROFITS GOING?
Congressional Lobbying? Attorneys? Embezzlement? Anywhere but to the tribal members?
Is it at all possible these corporations are little more than shell corporations established for the purpose of federal money laundering?
Is there a multi-billion dollar tribal reserve fund sitting around somewhere and if so are its details shared with the tribal members? After all, the tribe has an equal share in the tribal inheritance.
We fully expect that just like the tribe’s manipulation of net power revenues for Mission Valley Power to make sure the project could not be rehabbed for irrigators, the tribe also manipulates the profits of the tribal corporate enterprises so there are very little if any to have to share with the tribal members.
It is highly likely the tribal inheritance is being stolen right out from under them.
The tribal membership in 1954 had it right. Federal supervision of the tribe should have been terminated and the assets of the tribe liquidated for distribution to the membership.
Had that happened in 1954, these people would already have the benefit of their inheritance and the ability to pass that inheritance down to their children and their families for far better lives than they have right now. Each person could have used that money for the purpose of charting their own self determination.
Adding to this mix is the lack of transparency with respect to any public scrutiny of the tribe’s financial information One thing we know for certain is that the tribe has multi millions and possibly billions of dollars flowing through its books. Only the federal government knows for sure the value of the tribal assets and lands that are held in trust for the CSKT tribal membership.
Perhaps the time has come to demand a full and independent accounting of the value of these assets and funds so that tribal members can make an informed choice about freeing themselves, and everyone else, from the tyrannical chains that currently bind us all.
If you are interested, here is a copy of one chart listing the information isolated in this article. Click on the photo below for a pdf copy.
See Also:
- The Tribal Inheritance Part One
- The Tribal Inheritance Part Two Vested Rights in the Tribal Estate
- The Tribal Inheritance Part 4: The Human Cost of Federal Indian Policy
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Marilyn Saubert said:
I have been unable to view today’s post and the previous one. The message said unable to access the url. Maybe a different format would work. Thank you.
Marilyn Saubert-03-05-2024
marilynsaubert@gmail.com
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Steve N. said:
They upped the per capita by 25% in 2023
The financial strength of the Tribes remains sound. In fiscal year 2022 the expenses of the Tribes were matched with
revenue from all sources and did not require using any reserves to meet organizational needs. FY22 audited expenses
were $224,305,134 allocated across all functions of government (see graph, rounded).
Maintaining strong reserves continues to help the Tribes exercise their independence from borrowing of any kind;
keeping the Tribes free from the costs of rising interest rates and obligations. Looking forward, the largest headwinds
are expenses associated with inflation and increased expenses across the Reservation. While these are beyond our
control, Council approved a 25% increase to per capita payments, and 20% increase to tribal elder assistance payments
to be effective in fiscal year 2023 to alleviate the impact to the Tribal Membership.
icthe4est said:
Thank you for the update on the per capita increases. We were not aware that they recently increased it. A 25% increase on a $1,200 per capita payment increases it to $1,500 which is still far less buying power than the tribal membership had with their $200 per capita in 1954.
For readers, Steve’s reference to the $224 million comes from the tribe’s 2022 annual report that can be found at this link:
https://csktribes.org/index.php/component/rsfiles/download-file/files?path=CSKT%2BAnnual%2BReports%252FCSKT_AR2022_Design_FINALFiles.pdf&Itemid=101
The CSKT budget at $224 million is about 10 times greater than that of Lake County that has a population of about 30,000 people which includes a large portion of the the 5,200 CSKT members who live within the reservation boundaries.
We have been told by tribal members that they are encouraged to use state social welfare services such as health and nutrition (SNAP), and temporary assistance for needy families TANF, rather than going through the tribe. We have no reason to doubt that is true, but no ability to verify the extent to which that happens.
It is difficult to ascertain the poverty levels of the CSKT tribal membership because of the fact that Flathead is an open reservation and it’s likely impossible to for us separate this information out.
Here is a link to a summary showing the poverty levels of the tribes in Montana, compared to the general population.
Click to access poverty-montana.pdf
It’s too bad that the CSKT tribal membership figures are buried within the total population figures for the area because it likely hides the fact that the poverty levels of the CSKT membership are much higher than the numbers reported for Flathead on the Montana Poverty Report Card that was the source of this information.
Dave Qualtier said:
not only interest on all the so called investments you don’t hear anything about there hush hush deals and therefore capita is peanuts for all the billions of dollars pouring out and really nothing to show for