By SCOTT MCKIE B.P.
One Feather Asst. Editor
CHEROKEE, N.C. – It has been nine years since Dinilawigi (Tribal Council) last amended the distribution plan for the Minors Fund for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI). During their regular session on Thursday, Nov. 7, a new ordinance (Ord. No. 334 – 2024) was deemed read and tabled and seeks to amend the current plan.
The plan outlined in the new legislation, submitted by Brandi Claxton, EBCI Budget & Finance director, seeks to change the plan from three staggered distributions to five.
The distribution plan was last changed on Oct. 22, 2015 with the passage of Ord. No. 38 (2015), submitted by then-Ugvwiyuhi (Principal Chief) Patrick Lambert and the Junaluska Leadership Council. That legislation approved the current three distribution plan described below.
Currently, under Cherokee Code Section 16C-6 (Minors and other legal incompetents), distributions are given as follows:
- At age 18, the first distribution “is the lesser of $25,000 or one-fourth the amount of the total amount held trust for the eligible member”
- At age 21, the second distribution is also “the lesser of $25,000 or one-fourth” of the total
- At age 25, the third distribution “shall be in an amount totaling the entire remaining amount held in trust for the eligible member”
The proposed legislation (Tabled Ord. No. 334 – 2024) states, “The EBCI Investment Committee and the EBCI Office of Budget & Finance have determined that a new schedule of five staggered distributions, at ages 18, 20, 22, 24, and 25 will better meet the needs of Minors Fund participants and will decrease the tax burden participants experience with the current distribution schedule.”
The proposed new distribution would be as follows:
- At age 18, the first distribution “is the lesser of $50,000 or one-fifth the amount of the total amount held in trust for the eligible member”
- At age 20, the second distribution “is the lesser of $50,000 or one-fifth the amount of the total amount remaining after the first distribution”
- At age 22, the third distribution “is the lesser of $50,000 or one-fifth the amount of the total amount remaining after the second distribution”
- At age 24, the fourth distribution “is the lesser of $50,000 or one-fifth the amount of the total remaining after the third distribution”
- At age 25, the fifth distribution “shall be in an amount totaling the entire remaining amount held in trust”
Tabled Ord. No. 334 (2024) has to sit for 25 days before being acted upon by Dinilawigi.
