General Council briefed on 2027 draft budget

By Danielle Harrison

Smoke Signals editor

Tribal members were briefed on the draft budget for calendar year 2027 by Tribal Finance Officer Chris Leno during the Sunday, Nov. 1, General Council meeting held at the Governance Center and on Zoom.

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

The draft budget presentation ran approximately one hour and 40 minutes, which included Tribal members’ questions and comments on the proposed spending plan, as well as a break for lunch. General Council ended the executive session at 12:46 p.m.

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 call 503-879-2304.

The November Tilixam Wawa also features a detailed look at the 2027 draft budget and adult Tribal members have until 5 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 6, to submit written comments. The final 2027 budget will be adopted on or before Thursday, Dec. 31. Written comments can be submitted to 9615 Grand Ronde Road, Grand Ronde, OR, 97347; or emailed to chris.leno@grandronde.org.

During a Tuesday, Nov. 3, Legislative Action Committee meeting, Tribal Council member Matthew Haller encouraged Tribal members to continue to submit their input on the proposed spending plan.

“There were some hard questions that were asked and I encourage those questions to continue to be asked by our Tribal members,” he said. “It’s how you ask them and I felt like everybody that had those concerns did it in a really respectable way. … That’s what helps us think on whether we’re doing the right thing or maybe we should be looking through a different lens. So please get those comments into us. Although the budget is posted, it is not finalized. The comments are valuable and we do read those.”

In other action, the next General Council meeting will be held at 11 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 6, in Tribal Council chambers and on Zoom, and include a report from the Tribal Economic and Lands Department.

The non-executive session portion of the meeting can be viewed by visiting the Tribal government’s website at www.grandronde.org and clicking on the Government tab and then Videos.