MOUNT PLEASANT, MI -- The Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe is giving $3 million to local schools and governments across Isabella, Arenac and northern Bay counties as part of a semi-annual distribution of net slot machine earnings.

The total distribution, $3,003,454.67, accounts for 2 percent of slot machine revenues after expenses and payouts at Saganing Eagles Landing Casino in Standish Township and Soaring Eagle Casino and Resort in Mount Pleasant, according to a press release.

Of that total, $2,195,656.19 will be distributed to Isabella County, with $1,159,892.93 going to county and local governments and $1,035.763.26 to area schools, the release states.

Arenac and northern Bay counties will receive $807,798.48. Local and county governments will garner $565,458.94 and area schools will receive $242,339.54.

The distribution is based on the deliberations of the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribal Council. The council receives and evaluates requests for funds from local governments and schools before deciding how much and where to allocate the funds.

With a twice-a-year distribution, interim public relations director for the tribe Erik Rodriguez said there are two deadlines for the requests each year. This year, the tribe received 381 individual requests -- 105 from local governments and 276 from local schools.

"(The council) prioritizes them, grants the funds that impact the largest amount of people in those areas to maximize the effect," Rodriguez said. "The educational needs are always there. We're happy to supplement some of those shortages."

As part of a compact between the tribe and the state in 1993, each year the tribe was to distribute semi-annually 8 percent of its net slot machine earnings, Rodriguez said.

He said that compact was violated in the mid-to-late '90s with the addition of non-American Indian casinos in Detroit. The 2 percent distribution, he said, is not legally binding but, rather, an act of good faith.

In spring 2016, the tribe doled out $2,128,364.02 for Isabella County and $757,105.59 for Arenac and northern Bay counties, Rodriguez said.

Here are the semi-annual distributions going back two years, according to Rodriguez.