1985-10-17 Char-Koosta News

              Money for per capitas and programs
Council approves spending blueprint for Kerr Dam revenue
Revenue from the Kerr Dam joint offer of settlement, finalized earlier this year between the Tribes and the Montana Power Company, will be used for per capita payments, assistance to the elderly, financial aid for students, land acquisition, economic development and buying the dam facilities in 30 years.
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A blueprint covering 30 years of Tribal income and expenditures was given unanimous formal approval by the Tribal Council at the October 4 quarterly meeting in Pablo.
In 17 columns of figures, the budget forecast and plan anticipates what the Tribes' revenue and expenses will be each year from 1986 to 2015. An annual inflation rate of 4.5% (based on past inflation factors) is included
The plan's main attributes include
• Larger, dependable per capita payments
• No deficit spending by the Tribal government or tapping of the reserves
• Provision for the current and future financial needs of low-income Tribal elders
• Provision for the future financial needs of the Tribes' young people and students
• Maintaining current spending levels for the support of the Tribal government; and
•An accumulation of $78,359,211 to finance the acquisition of Kerr Dam in the year 2015, should the Tribes choose to do so
About 50 Tribal members spent several hours discussing the 30-year blueprint with the Council at the quarterly meeting. The proposed education endowment fund and the 50% set-aside of the minors' per capita payments earned the audience's particular attention.
Tribal financial analyst Ron Trosper explained the plan, pointing out that the projected three decades of figures were subject to a lot of assumptions, such as 4.5% inflation factor, and the 'guess-timated' .75% annual increase in the number of enrolled Tribal members. We had to second-guess the future, Ron Therriault (St Ignatius) noted
Another assumption was that the cost of Tribal government could be maintained at FY86's initially projected figure That figure is already outdated, due to an unexpected eleventh-hour cost-of-living increase for all Tribal employees granted September 27, and an unforeseen jump in the cost of insurance premiums on some 140 Tri-balty owned vehicles.
The Council's approval of the 30-year (Continues on page two)
Filing for primary ends Oct 25, costs $25
Friday, Oct 25,1985 -- not Oct 24, as erroneously reported in the last issue --is the deadline for filing as a candidate for the Nov. 9 primary Tribal election. For complete election season details, please turn to page ten.