Moody County Commissioners oppose a request that more land owned by the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe be placed in government trust, meaning the tribe would not have to pay taxes on those additional parcels.

Commissioners met in executive session a week ago and followed that meeting with a vote to write letters to the Bureau of Indian Affairs office in Aberdeen stating that the 214.86 acres, collectively called the Myers property, and 318.9 acres called the Elverud property, remain as taxed land in the county.

The Myers property, north and east of the Pow Wow grounds, is next to property already held in trust, but the Elverud property, which is land south of the Royal River Casino and along Highway 34 where the tribe has kept buffalo, is not. In separate letters, the commissioners requested that the application for the parcels be denied.

Removing the land from being taxed would be a detriment to the Flandreau and Colman-Egan school districts, Moody County, Grovena and Flandreau townships, fire departments and the East Dakota Water Conservation district, the letter said. The change also would allow for the potential for land use not in the county’s zoning requirements, and the request does not conform with the intent of federal law, the letter said.

“As the bureau is no doubt aware, the enrollment of this land into trust will remove it from taxation forever, and the vitally important revenue derived from this property will have to be borne by the remaining property owners in Moody County forever,” the letters signed by commission chairman Rick Veldkamp said. Commissioners unanimously approved the letters in opposition to the change.

The amount in loss taxes payable in 2019 would be $16,021.24, including $2,528.50 to the Flandreau schools and $7,848.82 to Colman-Egan. The county would lose $4,357.86 in taxes.

“It’s forever,” State’s Attorney Paul Lewis said of the potential loss.

The county also would lose the ability to make sure land use and development is consistent with the protection of natural resources and the financial resources of the county, the letter said. Additional development of housing, for example, would be a burden on roads, which the county pays for and maintains through the use of tax dollars.

County regulations would no longer apply for that or for any zoning or use requirements, including Confined Animal Feeding Operations, which can impose a number of different burdens on the county, the letter said.

“We would no longer have any control over zoning at all,” Lewis said. While he has not seen the application made by the tribe, his understanding is they would like to keep the land as is. But that could change in another generation, and county zoning laws would not apply if the land was in the government trust, he said.

The tribe also asked to place the Elverud land in government trust in 1994 but failed. That property, which the tribe has owned for 28 years, is over the Big Sioux Aquifer and adjacent to the Big Sioux River flood plain, strictly regulated areas.

“Even though the FSST may have changed its mind since the 1994 application was submitted, and may not currently plan a hog confinement system on the subject properties, once the property is placed into trust, all county regulations would no longer apply as to any future uses,” the letter from commissioners said.

The county also said the land request doesn’t meet the intent of federal law because the tribe already has owned the land and benefited from its use. The federal governments Indian Reorganization Act was intended to help tribes get land if they didn’t have any or to become more self-sufficient, the county said.

The tribe will not gain greater self-sufficiency than it already has, the letters said.

The decision on the issue is made by the U.S. Department of Interior.

A call to the tribal attorney was not returned before deadline.