Two mountain school districts are demanding more than $3 million they believe is owed them through uncollected property taxes on the Chukchansi Gold Resort & Casino in Coarsegold. 

The Coarsegold Union Elementary School District and the Yosemite Union High School District say they are entitled to the money because the land beneath the Chukchansi Gold Resort & Casino is not held in trust, or tax-free status, by the federal government. 

The Chukchansi property lies within the boundaries of both school districts.
Raymond Dunne, an attorney representing the districts, said the property currently is estimated by the county to be worth about $400 million, though the tribe believes that estimate is too high. 

At that figure, Dunne said, the county would collect about $4 million in property tax, with the districts claiming about 75%, or about $3 million. The districts also want about $150,000 in developer's fees they claim should have been collected during the permit process. 

Madera County and the Chukchansi tribe have been in negotiations for several months concerning the tax status of the resort/casino land. 

The tribe says the land has a special status that makes it exempt from county taxes. The County Counsel's Office and Assessor's Office have maintained that the land is subject to taxation because it is not held in trust by the federal government. 

However, there is no consensus within the county on whether the tribe should pay property taxes. The county's confusion is a result in part of the tribe's legal efforts on behalf of its claim to tax-exempt status. 

These efforts included a request to the Board of Supervisors for a refund of property taxes the tribe and Cascade Entertainment, the casino's management company, had paid in past years. The board, the final authority at the county level in such matters, has yet to take a stand on whether the tribe must pay property taxes. 

However, before the board could make a decision on the tax refund request, the tribe this month withdrew it. In a letter to the board, tribal officials said they don't recognize the board's jurisdiction "in this matter." 

The result of all this action is that the county has not recently collected property taxes on the land beneath the casino/resort. It is this delay and confusion surrounding the county's ultimate stance on tribal taxes that are motivating the school districts to make their demands. 

Dunne said the districts are working to resolve the situation with the county, but would take legal action, if necessary. 

"We would prefer not to have that happen because we have common interests," he said. "We have more in common than we have in dispute between us."
In a Nov. 14 letter to county officials, Dunne said the county is not authorized to waive collection of taxes on behalf of noncounty agencies. He said those agencies, such as school districts, rely on the county to collect their money.
He said the county's waiver of property taxes was illegal. 

Under Proposition 13, the county collects taxes for all local agencies, he said, and the county cannot "contract away its constitutional taxing duties." 

"While the county may have contractually arranged for the tribe to mitigate the financial impacts that the casino development would have on the county itself, such arrangements do nothing to mitigate the loss of K-12 school tax revenues for public education," Dunne stated in the letter. 

In most projects, school and developer's fees are collected by the county as part of the building permit process. 

In the case of the resort/casino, the tribe was allowed by the county to bypass normal permit procedures, Dunne said. 

Naomi Gutierrez, a county administrative assistant, said the county did not require the tribe to get a building permit because the project was going on American Indian land. 

Dunne said the districts are considering all of their options: "Whether or not we cross swords with the county remains to be seen." 

The reporter can be reached atlapadilla@fresnobee.com or 675-6805.