The Board of Supervisors have entered Shasta County into a 30-year Intergovernmental Agreement with Redding Rancheria (the Tribe) for the Tribe’s proposed casino project (the Project) to receive one-time and recurring payments in lieu of property taxes and fees, to partially mitigate anticipated County costs of providing law enforcement, fire, and emergency services; maintaining the County’s roads and traffic controls and maintenance; and services related to the Project. Historically, there has been no such agreement in place for these services to Win-River Resort & Casino, nor is one required. This agreement was proposed by the Tribe with a desire to do their part in giving back to the community.
In 2019, as the process for the Tribe to obtain government approvals on the Project to build a new casino was being navigated, the County began negotiations with the Tribe to develop an impact mitigation agreement for the Project. The Project was a topic of discussion within the community, with strong response both supporting and opposing the project. On October 1, 2019, the Board voted to send a letter formally opposing the Fee-to-Trust and Casino Project (the Project) and agreement negotiations were discontinued.
Subsequently, the Board took action on May 17, 2022, to reverse its opposition to the Project and approved a motion to withdraw the County’s opposition and in its place, issued the letter of support to the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) for the Project. On January 24, 2023, the Board approved letter responding to communication from the BIA reaffirming their position of support. On April 11, 2023, the Board approved a letter providing comments to additional communication to the BIA.
On June 30, 2023, staff met with representatives from the Tribe where the Tribe presented County staff with an Intergovernmental Agreement that had been approved by the Redding Rancheria Tribal Council. The version of the Agreement presented by the Tribe on June 30, 2023, had not been previously reviewed or approved by Shasta County’s County Counsel and Risk Manager or the County Administrative Office.
The terms and conditions of the latest version of the Agreement, including financial data, are provided in further detail in staff’s presentation being made to the Board as part of this item.
The Agreement would provide certain one-time and other conditional, recurring payments.
Certain fees or payments have been excluded from the Agreement. For example, the Tribe would not be required to pay the County any portion of transient occupancy or similar tax.
At this time, the Agreement has not been approved as to form by County Counsel or approved by Risk Management. Shasta County Contracts Manual, Policy 6-101 requires that County Counsel and Risk Management review and approve agreements to which the County is a party, except limited types of certain pre-approved form or low-risk contracts that meet specific criteria per the Policy. Absent revision to County Policy and/or waiver of County Policy requiring review and approval by County Counsel and the Risk Manager, this Agreement does not qualify for an exemption to the Policy requiring review by County Counsel or the Risk Manager.
The Agreement is intended to mitigate the County costs related to the new casino for providing law enforcement, fire and emergency services, and costs to maintain County roads and traffic controls and related costs. Although the Agreement provides some revenue to the County for each of these areas, as currently drafted, the agreement would not fully mitigate the anticipated costs.