ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — A midlevel New York court has rejected the challenge by two upstate townships to the 2013 agreement by the state with the Oneida Indian Nation that allows the tribe to put up to 25,000 acres of land into trust.
The Appellate Division says the agreement didn’t violate the constitutional home rule powers of the towns of Vernon and Verona and their rights to tax, regulate and govern land within their boundaries.
The court says the negative town consequences didn’t result from the agreement or subsequent state legislation, but from the U.S. Interior Department decision to place the lands in trust.
The deal assures the tribe of no competing casinos in a 10-county swath while it shares Turning Stone casino’s slot revenue with the state and Oneida and Madison counties.
