The Gila River Indian Community will share the wealth from its three casino operations with enrolled tribal members. But it could be more than a year before anyone sees a check.
Voters voted 2,012 to 1,183 Tuesday to have the tribe distribute quarterly per capita payments to all enrolled tribal members from casino revenues.
Gila River tribal officials will certify election results sometime in July.
Then begins the long, bureaucratic process of developing a revenue allocation plan that maintains the tribe's fiscal responsibilities, said tribal spokeswoman Alia Maisonet.
Maisonet would not comment on how much revenue the casinos generate.
The vote authorizes Gila River Indian Community Gov. William R. Rhodes to draft the plan, which will be sent to the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs for final approval.
People are also reading…
"The process is to take at least one year," Maisonet said.
Tuesday's vote came after nearly a year of lobbying by a citizen group that included Philbert Soroquisara.
The group circulated ballot petitions last fall and the council schedule the election last February.
Soroquisara said his group proposes the tribe tap into sponsorship money allocated to the Arizona Diamondbacks and Arizona Cardinals sports teams.
"We are trying to redirect those revenues. That revenue is not benefiting me or other tribal members, especially members off the reservation," he said on Wednesday.
"Everyone deserves a piece of that pie," he said.
No specifics have been discussed, Maisonet said.
The Gila River Indian Community, with 20,000 enrolled members, is the largest tribe in the United States to agree to per capita distributions, Maisonet said.
As water lifeline evaporates, Arizona faces a cultural change over water use
