Glen Hayward - Executive Director of Health Services
Trisha Baker - EPA Manager
Jason Hart - Senior Director of Public Works
What you need to Know?
The Redding Rancheria Indian Tribe is a sovereign government, recognized by the federal government.
The Tribe purchased the property on I-5 (some refer to as the Strawberry Fields) in 2003. The property is located on I-5 and is where the Tribe would like to relocate the casino.
Before the Tribe can build the new casino on the I-5 property, the land must be taken into trust by the federal government for gaming purposes. This is the fee-to-trust process. The Tribe requested the federal government take the property into trust in 2010. Once the land is taken into trust, the Tribe can assert jurisdiction over the land and govern the conduct on the land.
The Tribe is following all applicable federal laws. Those laws control the federal fee-to-trust process and include the Indian Reorganization Act (IRA), Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA), and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
As part of the federal fee-to-trust process, the City and County have collaborated with the Tribe and the federal government as cooperating agencies. The next step involves the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) responding to substantive comments it received during the recent public comment period. This must occur before the BIA can issue a Final Environmental Impact Statement, as required by NEPA, and, ultimately, before it can issue a Record of Decision to take the land into trust. The Record of Decision determines the scope of the project.
The Tribe intends to build the project in phases. The Tribe cannot provide more detail about the phases until the BIA responds to the substantive comments it received and issues a Record of Decision.
The entire build out of the project will cost approximately $140 million and will account for 2,120 construction jobs resulting in $99.1 million in new construction-related wages.
The project will directly add 550 full-time jobs resulting in $12.2 million in new wages.
These wages will be spent and taxed in the local community.
If the project includes retail, on-reservation businesses will pay the same net tax rate as off-reservation businesses. Clear and simple. If there is a question about how the local tax will be allocated between the Tribe, City, and County, the Tribe is ready to meet with the City and County to negotiate a tax agreement that works for everyone.
The Tribe pays the State of California annual taxes on its gaming revenue. In 2018, the Tribe paid the State of California well over a million dollars. The State of California taxes gaming revenues, in part, to address impacts to local governments from gaming.
Per-capita distributions of gaming revenue to tribal members are treated as income and taxed by the federal government and State of California. Left over income is spent and taxed in the local community. This is in stark contrast to big corporations like Costco, Walmart, or McDonalds, in which corporate profits leave the local community, unspent and untaxed.