By SCOTT AIKEN H-P Staff Writer NEW BUFFALO — The Pokagon Fund is open for business and will soon begin distributing Four Winds Casino revenue to local governments, charities and other organizations.
“We are very excited to give back to the New Buffalo area,” John Miller, chairman of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, said Tuesday.
Miller and other officials announced the launch of the fund, a nonprofit organization formed by the band with a goal of using casino profits for community improvements in the New Buffalo area.
Groups and individuals are invited to apply for funding to support programs and projects in health and human services, arts and culture, education, recreation and the environment.
The nonprofit fund is governed by a seven member board. Initially, it will receive and distribute 2 percent of the annual electronic gaming revenue from Four Winds in New Buffalo Township, opened by the Pokagon Band in August.
The Pokagon Fund is separate from and goes beyond the revenue distribution requirements of the compact between the Pokagon Band and the state that sets requirements for gambling operations.
Under the compact, the state is to get 8 percent of electronic gaming revenue, and 2 percent goes to a Local Revenue Sharing Board. The board distributes money for law enforcement and to compensate local governments for revenue lost when the lands occupied by the casino were taken off the tax rolls.
Mary Dunbar, executive director of the Pokagon Fund, said broad guidelines are in place to encourage applications for projects or programs that might qualify for a grant, loan or some other form of financial support. “We really didn’t want to rule anything out,” said Dunbar, who described how the fund will operate.
Applications are now available online at the fund’s Web site, pokagonfund.org., and the first money is expected to be awarded in about 90 days, she said. After that, funding will be given out on a monthly basis. “We hope people will be creative,” said Miller, who is also president of the Pokagon Fund board.
The Pokagon Fund operates in accordance with a local agreement between the Pokagon Band, New Buffalo and New Buffalo Township. The seven-member governing board is made up of two members from the Pokagon Band, one each from New Buffalo and New Buffalo Township, and three at-large members.
Under the agreement, the Pokagon Fund is to receive 2 percent of electronic gaming revenue from Four Winds annually during the first and second years of operation; 1 percent in the third, fourth and fifth years; and 0.75 percent during each subsequent year. Officials declined to say the amount of money expected to go into the fund during the first year.
According to Berrien County officials, 2 percent of electronic gaming revenue is projected to be $3.35 million for the casino’s first year of operation. The Local Revenue Sharing Fund, like the Pokagon Fund, is to receive 2 percent. The local agreement provides that the Pokagon Fund revenue will be divided into three parts, 45 percent to local governments; 45 percent for projects approved by the fund board within or benefiting the New Buffalo region; and 10 percent to benefit communities surrounding Pokagon Band trust land consolidation land in Michigan and Indiana where there is no casino.
The 45 percent for local governments is broken down as follows: 21 percent for projects requested by the New Buffalo Township Board; 14 percent for projects requested by the New Buffalo City Council; 2 percent each for projects specified by the governing bodies of Chikaming Township, Three Oaks Township, and New BuffaloArea Schools; and 1 percent each for the villages of Three Oaks, Michiana and Grand Beach, and the River Valley School District.
