"I was intrigued by Yolo County Supervisor Matt Rexroad's guest opinion last Sunday in The Daily Democrat regarding the impasse between the Rumsey Band of Wintun Indians and Yolo County over our planned transformation of Cache Creek Casino Resort into a world-class destination resort. The supervisor stated our inability to reach agreement over the tribe's project "has nothing to do with business, much less money." In fact, the tribe's project, and the resulting impasse with the county, is about both.

The nation, state, and county face real economic crisis. Unemployment in Yolo County has climbed to 9 percent. Meanwhile, the record shows our project would create 1,000 new jobs, plus hundreds of construction jobs. This is on top of the Resort's existing 2,500 jobs. In addition, every year the project will generate $90 million in regional economic benefits, adding the $300 million the Resort already generates annually. In short, this project has everything "to do with business."

The supervisor's article also states "the county and tribe are virtually in agreement on monetary reimbursement for increased demand on local government. Money isn't the issue here." This is not exactly right either.

The tribe has offered to pay the county more than it needs to pay for the "increased demand on local government" -- specifically, the cost of providing fire protection, law enforcement and similar services because of the project. As an independent analysis shows, such services ould cost the county less than $1 million per year. However, the tribe has offered to pay the county $3.3 million annually -- more than three times what it really needs every year to cover the "increased demand on local government.""

Get the Story:
Disagreement over county, tribe dispute (The Woodland Daily Democrat 1/25)