A local citizen spoke up at Tuesday’s meeting of the Montezuma County commissioners to challenge the idea that the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe and other sovereign nations don’t pay their fair share for public services. Allen Maez of Lewis said a person complained at two recent local events that the Utes don’t pay property taxes but utilize services such as the hospital, schools, and the sheriff’s office. He told the commissioners there are many non-indigenous people who don’t directly pay property taxes.
He said, “There are individuals right here in town that don’t own private land, so they’re getting schools, the hospital, fire departments, all of those things like anybody else that pays those taxes.”
He pointed out that sovereign tribal nations have been recognized by the federal government and it would be very difficult to change the historic agreements with the tribes. He said the Utes do own some private property in different places and pay property taxes on that.
Because the two recent gatherings where the comments were made were not publicly recorded or televised, Maez said he felt it was necessary to bring the issue out at the commission meeting.
In a phone interview, Maez told KSJD that when he heard the comments about a lack of equity at the two recent gatherings, “It raised my temperature.”
Gail Binkly is a career journalist who has worked for the Colorado Springs Gazette and Cortez Journal, and was the editor of the Four Corners Free Press, based in Cortez.