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Moody County Commissioners oppose a request that more land owned by the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe be placed in government trust, meaning the tribe would not have to pay taxes on those additional parcels.
Commissioners met in executive session a week ago and followed that meeting with a vote to write letters to the Bureau of Indian Affairs office in Aberdeen stating that the 214.86 acres, collectively called the Myers property, and 318.9 acres called the Elverud property, remain as taxed land in the county.
The Myers property, north and east of the Pow Wow grounds, is next to property already held in trust, but the Elverud property, which is land south of the Royal River Casino and along Highway 34 where the tribe has kept buffalo, is not. In separate letters, the commissioners requested that the application for the parcels be denied.
Removing the land from being taxed would be a detriment to the Flandreau and Colman-Egan school districts, Moody County, Grovena and Flandreau townships, fire departments and the East Dakota Water Conservation district, the letter said. The change also would allow for the potential for land use not in the county’s zoning requirements, and the request does not conform with the intent of federal law, the letter said.
“As the bureau is no doubt aware, the enrollment of this land into trust will remove it from taxation forever, and the vitally important revenue derived from this property will have to be borne by the remaining property owners in Moody County forever,” the letters signed by commission chairman Rick Veldkamp said. Commissioners unanimously approved the letters in opposition to the change.
The amount in loss taxes payable in 2019 would be $16,021.24, including $2,528.50 to the Flandreau schools and $7,848.82 to Colman-Egan. The county would lose $4,357.86 in taxes.