Yuba County will reap a projected $73 million during the first 16 years of its agreement with Enterprise Rancheria.
County officials Tuesday released the proposed memorandum of understanding with the tribe that wants to build a $90 million hotel-casino on Forty Mile Road.
"I hope that the public becomes aware of this, and the public responds to the board accordingly so we can make a decision based on what our constituents want," said Supervisor Don Schrader, who helped negotiate the pact along with Supervisor Mary Jane Griego.
"With this MOU, the rancheria was very generous to Yuba County. We're here trying to balance the budget," Griego said.
Supervisors scheduled a special meeting at 6 p.m. next Tuesday to consider approving the document and an accompanying letter to the Department of the Interior endorsing the project.
Supervisor Bill Simmons objected to a Dec. 17 vote on the pact.
"The 17th, I'm not sure that gives the public the full time," he said. "I want to make sure the people of this county have a full understanding of what we're buying into."
Supervisor-elect Dan Logue, in a statement issued after the board meeting, decried the agreement.
"The community has not embraced this project. This a clear case of a Wall Street-type investor from the Midwest breaking his promise to build a racetrack and taking advantage of a poor county to shove a Indian casino down our throats without any recourse," Logue said.
"To present an MOU and vote on it in only six days after it's released to the public is bad government. The MOU is very vague. It leaves open too many outs for the tribe."
He also said the agreement offers nothing for Wheatland and Marysville.
"The direct impact on cities is going to be huge," he said. "There's no offset."
In the agreement, the tribe agrees to pay the county about $700,000 in one-time development impact fees.
After that, the tribe will provide the county with annual payments in lieu of taxes.
Those payments will start at $800,000 in the first year of the hotel-casino operation and escalate to $5 million in the sixth year.
"It blows my mind to look at this $5 million figure," said Supervisor Al Amaro.
From then on, the payments will be adjusted based on the San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose Consumer Price Index, but no more than 4 percent annually.
According to the county's projections, the payments will reach $6.7 million by the 16th year, a total payment of $72.8 million.