Described as a ‘win-win’ situation, a deal negotiated between the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians and Rancho Mirage will allow the city to annex 40 acres of tribal trust land and place the tribe’s hotel and casino within city limits. It has taken over one year to reach final agreement and the documents, two bilateral agreements in the form of Memorandum of Understanding, were signed yesterday at the Rancho Mirage Council Chamber.

The agreements will end an impasse over the construction of a 15-storey hotel with 344 rooms adjacent to the Agua Caliente Casino, which opened in 2001 and has 1,000 slot machines, video poker machines, 49 table games, poker and bingo. There are also six restaurants, bar, showroom and high-limit gaming room. The tribe has a second casino, Spa Resort Casino, in Palm Springs. The hotel is scheduled to open in 2008 and Rancho Mirage could now benefit from around US$600,000 annually in lieu of bed tax dollars. The financial impact agreement is valued at over US$5 million.

The tribe supplies millions of dollars to local cities and county to pay for things like roads, as well as fire and police services. With the annexation of tribal land, guest room fees that would have gone to Riverside County can instead be collected by the City. It also means the City has accepted the tribe's long standing offer for mitigations for such things as road improvements. After a 6-month period, the city will be responsible for public services. In the meantime, the tribe will return to negotiations to enable ratification of its deal with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to add more slot machines to its casinos. (E-03.23.07)

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