Aanin Boozhoo

Greetings White Earth Members, thank you for the honor of being your newly elected Secretary/Treasurer for the White Earth Reservation Business Committee. As part of my duties, I submit to you my quarterly report for the start of Fiscal year 2023. Our Fiscal year runs from Oct. 1, 2022 to Sept. 30, 2023.

Fiscal Year 2023 Budget

Due to the fiscal year dates, the RBC must have a general fund budget in place by Sept. 30, 2022. This budget was approved by Tribal Council and adopted by resolution at the Regular Meeting on Sept. 30, 2022. The budget adopted accounts for revenues in the amount of $15.96 million which consists mainly of State of Minnesota Tax revenue and expenditures in the

amount of $22.30 million. These expenditures are incurred for departments that operate more for the good of the band members than to make a profit. These include education, public safety, general government, human services, public works, economic development, and culture amongst others. This allows for a budget deficit of $6.34 million which will be funded by

distributions from the Shooting Star Casino. This deficit includes all capital expenses.

Fiscal Year 2022 Actuals

General Fund

For fiscal year 2022, the general fund was approved for a budget deficit of $4.8 million. Throughout the year, there were budget modifications passed through Tribal resolutions authorizing an increased number of expenditures over the original budget allowance. The final budget deficit is reported at $14.07 million before Shooting Star Casino transfers of $16 million

and transfers out of $3.6 million. This leaves us a net change in our reserve amount of ($0.42 million) resulting in an ending reserve amount of $4.39 million dollars and a cash and equivalents balance of $4.44 million.

Of the $17 million transferred from the Shooting Star, $5 million was used to fund an investment in Pathfinder Solutions PBC, which provides technological-based solutions for substance abuse, drug treatment and related recovery services. This investment provides us with an 8% ownership in Pathfinders, a 10% referral fee for Tribal Nations, and free use for our

programs and constituents.

Earlier this summer, the current RBC voted to cancel the contract for Total Spectrum. The RBC initially allocated $4.9 million for the Total Spectrum contract. White Earth received substandard work in return and the RBC decided that the contract was no longer in the Band’s best interest.

https://whiteearth.com/assets/files/home/news/White%20Earth%20Tribal%20Council%20Quarterly%20Report.pdf