Government entities in Allen Parish stand to lose nearly $7 million in revenues, including stipends for teachers and road improvements, if the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana pulls its funding from local agencies.

For nearly three decades, 11 agencies have relied on quarterly payments from net profits of the Coushatta Casino Resort in Kinder to help offset expenses directly related to gaming in the parish.

Now those entities stand to lose the money under an amendment made by the Coushatta Tribe and former Gov. John Bel Edwards in December. Edwards signed the agreement, which began in late January, before leaving office.

Allen Parish officials say there has been no communication with the Coushatta Tribe concerning the new agreement. Tribal Chairman Jonathan Cernek also did not return phone calls made by the American Press concerning the agreement.

“We have not heard anything from the Coushatta Tribe on this except we have heard this funding has been cut off,” Police Juror Roland Hollins said. “ This is very concerning because in any parish where there is a casino, there is a lot of extra cost and a great burden on parish agencies. It’s very concerning that if this is indeed true, it seems like there should be some kind of communication. No one has heard anything.”

The Allen Parish School Board and Allen Parish Police Jury agreed Monday to sign a parish letter of inquiry for submission to the Coushatta Tribe regarding the current status of the compact and what the loss of revenue could mean for the parish. Other parish entities who receive funding are also being asked to sign the letter.

Hollins said the revenues were meant to help the governmental agencies with the “hidden costs” of having a casino in the area without placing the burden on local taxpayers. The casino affects criminal expenses, increases traffic and impacts local infrastructures.

“It’s just so much extra cost to a parish to have a casino and without them understanding or a clear picture of what we are facing, it puts every governmental agency in such a bad bind to try to decide how to compensate from this loss,” Hollins said.

Police Juror Allen Courville said municipalities and police departments in the parish have based their budgets on the revenue for years, including the cost of hiring extra police officers and providing fire protection. The cuts would be detrimental to their budgets.

Police Jury President Tony Hebert said any loss in funds would be a “big hit,” especially for the School Board

“It’s a hit for us, but we are really concerned about our school teachers and whatever the schools have been getting out of it,” Hebert said.

Hollins is also concerned about what the loss will mean to the school system.

“One of the greatest concerns we have is for our School Board because our School Board has been able to hire and retain some of the best teachers for the best education of our children,” Hollins said. “I am worried, as a grandparent, uncle and friend, I am concerned about being able to retain those teachers because it has been a great help to our School Board.”

Allen Parish School Superintendent Brad Soileau wants to see teachers continue to receive their annual stipends.

Under its agreement with the Coushatta Tribe, the School Board’s first $1.2 million is dedicated to teacher salaries. The remaining funds are used for curriculum and school projects, including repairs for schools that do not have the maintenance funds, Soileau said.

“The biggest impact we will have is the money we get for stipends and teacher retention and making sure we are competitive with other districts with stipends,” Soileau said.

Soileau said the school system is appreciative of the funds it has received for its students and teachers.

Parish Administrator Jacob Dillehay said the Police Jury stands to lose nearly $700,000, including $300,000 in capital improvements for maintenance of roads within three miles of Coushatta trust property. In recent years, the funding has also helped with increases in building insurance and rising utility costs.

For the last 20 years, the Police Jury has received $500,000 to $600,000 annually under the compact agreement.  Last year’s revenues were about $800,000, he said.

“We had $300,000 budgeted in this year’s capital outlay to do work on compact roads projects,” Dillehay said. “That’s $300,000 of road work that won’t get done this year.”

“We had money available to do improvement projects, including the courthouse, but now we are going to have to bear those costs,” Dillehay continued. “We will be able to maintain what we’ve got but there won’t be much extra. We’ll have to be very conscious of how we budget moving forward.”

The parish received its last quarterly payments for 2023 and is expected to receive the first quarterly check for 2024 in April or May, if it is funded, Dillehay said. If the funding is not received, the parish will have to amend its budget.