"the People's Paths!" Cherokee News Path - CN Passes Record Budget for New Fiscal Year

TAHLEQUAH, OKLAHOMA - The Cherokee Nation will start the new fiscal year with a record budget of more than $360 million, after the Tribal Council passed a budget in a special Council meeting called by Principal Chief Chad Smith Thursday evening.

The budget includes several new initiatives, including an amendment requested by Principal Chief Chad Smith which will allow for a bonus to be paid to Cherokee Nation employees.

“Our businesses had record profits this last year, and this was an opportunity to show our appreciation to employees who deliver services directly to our citizens,” Smith said. “This budget also includes the highest amounts ever for higher education scholarships and housing rehabilitation and highest operating budgets ever for our existing health clinics.”

The vast majority of the money in the budget is set aside for service programs. The budget calls for more than $113 million in spending on health care, including money to construct clinics in Nowata, Muskogee and Sallisaw and $1 million to assist citizens who need treatment for cancer and chronic diseases.

The nearly $30 million education budget includes the largest amount ever for higher education scholarships and the JOM program, which assists Cherokee students in public schools. It also includes a new initiative sponsored by Chief Smith to create full college scholarships for Cherokee students who are majoring in fields that are in demand within the Cherokee Nation, including a pilot program for nursing. Students who will receive these scholarships will be required to work for the Cherokee Nation or one of its businesses after graduation to help pay back to the tribe. The education budget also includes a record amount of spending for cultural programs, including language development initiatives and language immersion classes.

The housing and community services budget totals nearly $78 million, which includes the highest budgets ever for housing rehabilitation and roads, and funds for the Cherokee Nation’s growing self-help housing initiative.

The Cherokee Nation’s human services budget of nearly $30 million includes record amounts for child development and features nearly $1 million for drug prevention efforts in northeastern Oklahoma. Other major service areas, including Career Services and Commerce Services, help push the budget for Cherokee Nation’s service programs to nearly $275 million for the next fiscal year.

“Every year our budget for services to the Cherokee people grows, but what is most impressive is that our largest growth this year comes from the revenue we generate ourselves --- from our businesses,” Smith said. “We are becoming more self-sufficient while creating jobs for our citizens in our home communities.”

The percentage of the Cherokee Nation’s budget funded by tribal revenues, including business operations, has grown to 24 percent, from just 11 percent five years ago. Smith’s budget includes record amounts of funding for important service areas like higher education scholarships, clinic operations, housing rehabilitation, and roads.

The budget passed the Tribal Council unanimously. To see/hear/read the full Council meeting, log on to the Cherokee Council Minutes online.