Menenberg said he was impressed by a balance sheet that he called “by far the most conservative I’ve ever seen.” There’s nothing wrong, to his knowledge, with doing the bookkeeping that way, he said. “It creates an impression that the casino is $2 million richer and Quil Ceda Village is $2 million poorer,” he said. At the same time, Quil Ceda Village didn’t collect a $2 million yearly lease from Tulalip Resort Casino, its main economic engine, Menenberg said. About $17 million in taxes from gas stations and liquor stores outside Quil Ceda Village boundaries get booked as village revenue. They produce different financial statements, but they share revenue. “It’s all the same pot of money,” he said. Menenberg concluded that Tulalip’s three major entities - tribal government, Quil Ceda Village and the Tulalip Gaming Organization- are interconnected. Tribal government has become a philanthropic powerhouse, making regular donations to a wide range of non-tribal charities that benefit health, the arts, education and more. That works out to an average of more than $16,000 per person, Menenberg’s report stated. The tribes provide cash dividends to enrolled members, a total of $72 million in 2015. “There has been no inability to expand as they’ve needed to or as they’ve desired,” Menenberg said. It will replace the smaller of the tribes’ two casinos, Quil Ceda Creek. In December, they broke ground on a new $140 million casino and 150-room hotel west of I-5 at the Marysville-Tulalip exit.

The tribes had enough money to take the lead role in the construction of a new overpass at 116th Street NE, among other road projects. Though the government activities differ, that’s similar to the current operating budget for the city of Everett, home to about 110,000 people. They spent $137 million on government services that year. They had only $40 million in long-term debt. That’s several times what the tribes earn through leases, taxes and other revenue at retail areas.īy the end of 2015, the tribes had $300 million in cash and bonds, Menenberg testified. The tribes opened their first casino in 1992 as an addition to a bingo hall.įor 2015, Tulalip gaming activities netted $190 million, Menenberg said. “Indeed, it is not feasible to talk about (the village), the competing governmental interests, or the needs of Tulalip without discussing the most significant revenues and profits they earn.” “Gaming is the most profitable of Tulalip’s various business operations, and a significant reason for the existence of Quil Ceda Village (QCV),” Hankins wrote.

Quil ceda casino shuttle to airport