The White Earth Band of Ojibwe in Minnesota will no longer have to pay local property taxes now that the Bureau of Indian Affairs has taken the tribe's casino site into trust.

The Shooting Star Casino in Mahnomen is located on fee land within reservation boundaries. As a result the tribe was paying nearly $1 million a year in property taxes to the city.

The tribe and the city have reached a deal to offset the loss in property taxes. The tribe will pay $70,000 a year for municipal services.

Under an opinion issued by the National Indian Gaming Commission, land within reservation boundaries can be used for gaming regardless of its trust status [Tribal jurisdiction over gaming on fee land at White Earth Reservation].

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Casino land granted trust status (The Grand Forks Herald 3/30)