Tensions build between Seneca Nation and State of New York Over Separate Issues of Land Use and Taxes

By Shelley Bluejay Pierce

Monday, June 18, 2007

ALBANY, NY- A current land usage dispute between the Seneca Nation and the State of New York have increased tensions between the two entities this past week. On Tuesday, the President of the Seneca Nation, Maurice John Sr., submitted a bill to Governor Eliot Spitzer and the New York Transportation Department for more than $2.1 million.

The amount due is based on charging one dollar per vehicle for each of the 28,000 vehicles that travel daily across the three mile stretch of the I-90 Thruway built on tribal lands.

"We're sending the check to New York State, the DOT, it's not up to us whether they pay it or not, it's up to New York State," replied Maurice John during the press conference on Tuesday.

The Seneca Tribal Council voted on May 12, 2007, to charge the state for highway tolls retroactively to April 14, 2007. This decision was rendered after the council voted to rescind a 1954 right-of-way agreement between the nation and the state of New York for the I-90 Thruway that crosses tribal land.

The first Thruway bill sent by the Seneca leadership on Tuesday does not include historic penalties or costs for damages to native lands but if the bill is not paid in full within the 10 day time limit, interest penalties will be applied.

The Seneca Nation said the original land agreement, which paid the tribe $75,000, was invalid from inception due to the documents having never received proper federal approval. Tribal leaders have requested negotiations over the issues with New York State but no discussions have been set to date.

Conflicts between Gov. Spitzer and the Seneca nation have been on the increase since Spitzer assumed office in January. The Governor announced his intentions of collecting state tax on reservation sales of cigarettes and gasoline to non-Indian customers. The Seneca leadership insists that their tribal protection from state taxation is mandated according to the terms of treaty agreements made between the tribe and the United States.

"The Thruway tolls had nothing to do with the tax fight. We're talking apples and oranges," Maurice John stated.

Governor Spitzer's proposed budget for this year includes $200 million in revenues from reservation sales, though the administration has not yet disclosed how those figures will become a reality. The Seneca nation demands that treaty stipulations regarding the tax-free status be honored. The current charges for access to the land the New York Thruway crosses deals with legal contracts and agreements totally separate from any historical treaty agreements.

Tribal leaders displayed architectural drawings during the press conference of a tollbooth they might consider erecting across the roadway in dispute. Erecting signs that clearly alert motorists that they have entered into Seneca territory is one of the immediate actions planned by the tribe.

In 1994, New York won a U.S. Supreme Court Case over the Indian tax collection effort that some officials for the state claimed would increase state income by as much as $400 million a year. Officials attempted to enforce cigarette and gasoline tax laws on Indian retailers back in 1997 but gained only protests, blocked portions of the Thruway and clashes with New York state police.

Seneca leadership has taken aim as well, at a 1976 agreement that allowed construction of the Southern Tier Expressway which in now Interstate 86, and resides upon the Allegany Reservation. Maurice John explained that the tribal council has extended a deadline for negotiations with the state on that issue for one month.

Asked for an official comment from the New York Governor's office regarding their having received the bill from the Seneca Nation, Spitzer spokeswoman Christine Pritchard said, "The governor's office is declining comment."