Isabella County agencies outline plan for spending potential 2-percent funds from Saginaw Chippewa casino profits

• Tweet
• 

Isabella County agencies set to receive 2-percent funding from the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe already have a clear idea of what to do with the money.

The top two requests for the funds received from the tribe’s Class III Electronic Games of Chance were $523,558 by the Commission on Aging for programs and services, and $140,000 by Prosecutor Larry Burdick for drug prosecution.

The bottom two projects — $105,000 for Isabella County Transportation Commission bus cutouts and shelters, and $75,300 for the Medical Care Facility  — will not receive funding.

COA Director Brenda Upton said she was not surprised the county would rank the entity as number one.

“The tribe believes in taking care of their children and their elders,” Upton said. “The tribe has been extremely supportive in the past.”

The COA has applied for the semi-annual 2-percent grant program since 1995.

The tribe represents about 25 percent of the county’s COA budget on an annual basis. The money would be used for direct service, not toward staff salaries.

“It would go directly toward helping older adults in this county,” Upton said.

Programs that would benefit include the COA’s home-delivered meals program, foster grandparent program and senior companion program. It would also be used for in-home service programs such as home making, personal care and domestic care.

The second-ranked request regards drug prosecution. If the county receives the money, it will be used for staffing costs to hire one legal secretary and one attorney.

County Prosecutor Larry Burdick said his office has received money for this purpose since 2003, when there was a significant problem with drug dealers coming into the county from other regions, such as metro Detroit and Flint. Although the drugs of choice have changed over the years, the problem persists today, he said.

Burdick is hopeful Isabella County will receive the money. He said the tribe has been very generous in seeing the problem and making contributions.

“They’ve stepped up to the plate to assist not only tribal members that have been affected by the trade, but everyone,” Burdick said.

The Isabella County Transportation Commission was not approved to receive its requested money for bus cutouts and shelters.

Bus cutouts provide a place on the side of the road for a bus to pull over and stop without disrupting traffic.

“In many ways, we take responsibility ourselves for not having a clear request,” said Dennis Adams, ICTC director of marketing and public relations. “We also did not make the effort to change the request for re-appeal.”

The ICTC will try to make its requests more clear in the future, he said. It has had both approved requests and failed requests from the tribe in the past.

“We will continue to make the attempt to educate county commissioners on what we want to do in the future,” Adams said. “Maybe it will rank a little higher next time.”