The Shawano County Board, by a 25-2 vote Wednesday, withdrew its objection to a Ho-Chunk application to convert 25 acres to trust land.
The Ho-Chunk Tribal Council is offering a one-time gift of $4,800 to go to the Wittenberg-Birnamwood School District in order to improve its athletic facilities, especially the football stadium, in exchange for the Radke property, located in the town of Birnamwood, coming off the tax rolls.
The total tax bill for the property annually is $233.95, with $73.05 being the county’s share, according to Finance Director Diane Rusch.
The town of Birnamwood assesses about $26 annually in taxes for the land, according to Supervisor Dennis Knaak, who is also the town’s clerk.
The resolution received unanimous support from the Tribal Affairs Committee. Supervisor Sandy Steinke, the committee chairwoman, told the board that the committee, school district and tribe spent a lot of time crafting the deal.
“There was discussion through the committee that the greatest loser of that tax base was the school district,” Steinke said. “This is something they could have not afforded through their budget, and this will benefit the youth of that area.”
Heather Cloud, vice president for the Tribal Council, told the board that progress has been made in maintaining good relations between the tribe and county.
“There are many efforts that we are doing to work with the community. I feel as though this is just one of many that will benefit all the community members,” Cloud said. “The children will be sitting in our positions, and the fact that we are trying to work together and build these relationships now, I think we’re sending a positive example.”
Later in the meeting, long after the vote was taken, there was some concern about the county withdrawing its objection without getting any monetary compensation for the taxes that would be lost.
Supervisor Randy Young pointed out the county just had to pass a budget with no raises for employees, but withdrew its land-to-trust objection in this case without anything in return.
“Nobody’s more in favor of working with the tribes than I am,” Young said. “The concern I have is that the $4,800 came with a tag. It’s great that we’re using the $4,800 to help the Wittenberg school district, but I’m not sure that’s a major concern for the county.”
Supervisor Marion Wnek pointed out that the tribe did not have to provide any monetary compensation for the land, as the decision to convert land to tribal trust resides with the federal government. The county has traditionally lost whenever it has objected to area tribes’ efforts to establish trust land.
“They could have waited it out six or seven years until the land went into trust, and nobody would have got a dime,” Wnek said.
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