General Council briefed on draft 2021 budget

By Danielle Harrison

Smoke Signals staff writer

Finance Officer Chris Leno briefed Tribal members on the draft budget for calendar year 2021 during the Sunday, Nov. 1, General Council meeting held via the Zoom video conferencing app.

Approximately 40 people logged into the meeting.

Most of the meeting was held in executive session, which limits how much Smoke Signals can report on the details.

Before the meeting went into executive session, Leno shared the technical amendments and supplemental budgets that were added to the 2020 budget.

The largest supplemental budget portion is the $19.3 million allocation to the COVID-19 Relief Payment program/emergency assistance using CARES Act funds the Tribe received due to the pandemic. The biggest technical amendment was also CARES Act related, with $6.5 million in COVID-related grants.

Leno’s draft budget presentation ran approximately 50 minutes and he fielded five questions and comments regarding next year’s Tribal spending plan.

Tribal members interested in obtaining the slides of Leno’s presentation should contact Tribal Council Chief of Staff Stacia Hernandez at stacia.martin@grandronde.org or 503-879-2304.

The November Tilixam Wawa also features a detailed look at the 2021 draft budget and adult Tribal members have until 5 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 2, to submit written comments to Leno. The final 2021 budget will be adopted on or before Dec. 31.

In other action, it was announced that the next General Council meeting will be held at 11 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 6, via Zoom with a program report from Spirit Mountain Community Fund.

Tribal Council Vice Chair Chris Mercier encouraged Tribal students and Elders to apply for the $500 technology grant if they hadn’t already. It expires on Dec. 31.

“The grants are still available and we want everyone to have a laptop,” he said. “We want to spend that money.”