-Chadrad.com
Pe’ Sla Trust Plan Gets County OK
August 19, 2015
RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) -The Pennington County Commissioners voted 3-2 yesterday to support placing a site in the Black Hills sacred to the Great Sioux Nation into a federal trust.
The vote releases the land from the county’s tax roll and sends a letter of support to the U.S. Interior Department.
Sioux tribes raised $9 million with the help of celebrities including P. Diddy and Bette Midler three years ago to buy a 3-square-mile tract in the Black Hills known as Pe’ Sla from private landowners.
The tribes want to put the land in trust with the federal government to be held on behalf of tribal members, but the Pennington County Commissioners were worried about the loss of property taxes.
An attorney for the tribes says they have worked out service agreements for the land since it would stop generating tax revenue if place into trust.
