New York State and local governments receive nearly $17 for every $1 the Oneida Nation doesn’t pay in property taxes.

That astonishing figure comes from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which has been working on the Nation’s land-into-trust application since 2005. In early 2008, the BIA released its Final Environmental Impact Statement, including hundreds of pages analyzing the economic impact of the Nation’s business enterprises and government programs.

The analysis revealed that, between 1995 and 2005, the Nation’s activities generated more than $24 million in revenues for the state and local governments – through employee payroll taxes, the Nation’s direct payments through service agreements and other mechanisms, and through the “multiplier” or “ripple” effect of its own spending on goods and services and the spending Nation employees do. By contrast, the cost of providing various publicly funded services to the Nation’s enterprises and other properties were only $7.54 million, giving the state and local governments a windfall of $16.76 million.

Among the key findings in the BIA’s analysis:
• Nation employees who live in areas where the Nation owns property paid $5.5 million in property taxes in 2005.
• Spending by Nation employees in Madison, Oneida and Onondaga counties supports 865 non-Nation jobs in the three-county region.
• Nation spending in the three-county region supports another 536 jobs.
• Visitors from outside the region, assuming they spend a mere $5 at non-Nation businesses, support an additional 206 jobs in Madison and Oneida counties alone.

As the Nation’s enterprises continue to grow, the region benefits even more from the jobs we create, the spending we do with vendors and suppliers, and the broad range of visitors we’re able to attract to Central New York.

The Turning Stone Resort Championship is a good example of how the Nation’s activities can benefit the entire region. In its first year, this PGA TOUR® event raised nearly a quarter of a million dollars for local charities through the Upstate New York Empowerment Fund.

According to the PGA TOUR® officials, when a community works together, events like this can pump between $25 million and $50 million into the host region’s economy.