Helping the Community

The economic success of Spirit Mountain Casino has helped turn things around for the entire West Valley areas by bringing new job opportunities and business development. The Casino also has provided much-needed money for infrastructure improvements, enhanced law enforcement and educational investments in the West Valley towns of Grand Ronde, Willamina, Sheridan, and beyond.

Employment
Spirit Mountain Casino employs more than 1,600 people in a variety of positions, ranging from entry-level positions to management. Positions vary in scope and experience from landscape maintenance personnel to financial accountants, from beverage servers to computer technicians. For the West Valley, an area that has experienced severe job losses since the decline of the timber industry, Spirit Mountain is clearly a bright spot for the regional labor market.

• Spirit Mountain Casino’s 1,600-member workforce makes it the largest employer in Polk County and one of the largest employers in the mid-Willamette Valley. The Casino is one of the largest employers in the tourism industry in Oregon, with a $32 million annual payroll.
• The Casino pays approximately $450 each month per employee for company-paid benefits such as health insurance.
• Approximately twelve percent of Casino employees are enrolled members of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde.
• Thirty-four percent of Casino employees live in the immediate communities of Grand Ronde, Willamina and Sheridan, accounting for more than 10 percent of the population of those towns. The rest of the workforce lives in the surrounding valley area, including Salem, McMinnville, and Lincoln City.

Creating Opportunity
By creating jobs at the Casino and spurring job growth through economic expansion in neighboring communities, Spirit Mountain Casino has helped eliminate the need for state-funded welfare and unemployment support for hundreds of people.

• More than 46 percent of Casino employees were unemployed when they were hired by Spirit Mountain Casino.
• Nearly one-third of Spirit Mountain employees received welfare assistance prior to being employed at the Casino.
• More than 41 percent of Casino employees did not have medical benefits before joining Spirit Mountain.

Local Economic Impact

• More than $31 million is pumped into the local economy annually through Spirit Mountain Casino’s employee payroll.
• Casino employees pay more than $3 million each year in state and federal income taxes.
• Spirit Mountain Casino spends more than $32 million annually in vendor goods and services. Almost 72 percent of that amount, more than $23 million, is spent in Oregon.
• Spirit Mountain Casino has an annual net direct economic stimulation to the state of more than $29 million. This is money spent at the Casino by out-of-state visitors and by Oregon residents who choose to go to Spirit Mountain rather than travel out-of-state to Reno, Las Vegas or other destinations.

Infrastructure Improvements

• As part of the development of Spirit Mountain Casino, the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde built a 500,000-gallon water storage tank that has allowed the Tribe to develop housing and other public facilities for Tribal members and other local community users.
• A sewage-treatment plant, paid for solely with Tribal funds, serves the Casino without impacting the local community sewerage system.

Law Enforcement

• The Tribes underwrite the cost of six full-time Polk County Sheriff’s deputies for the Grand Ronde area. These deputies provide enhanced community and highway safety for all of those who live in or travel through the region.
• The Casino’s security and surveillance departments work closely with local law enforcement agencies on criminal investigations, using the Casino’s surveillance systems to photograph and monitor suspects.

Education
Through sponsorships and contributions, Spirit Mountain helps make enrichment programs, concerts and field trips available to Grand Ronde, Willamina, Sheridan, and other areas schools. The Tribe has purchased enhanced math, science and reading programs for Grand Ronde Elementary School. Other help includes special education and occupational training programs in the Willamina School District and Yamhill Education Service District.

Spirit Mountain takes a creative approach to community giving. For example, when Casino patrons started leaving donations at the bronze statue of basket maker Martha Jane Sands in the Casino lobby, Spirit Mountain decided to match their contributions and give the money to local Head Start programs.

Charitable Giving
Each year, the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, through its Spirit Mountain Community Fund, gives six percent of the profits of Spirit Mountain Casino to worthy non-profit organizations in the eleven Western Oregon counties that comprise the ancestral lands of Grand Ronde Tribal members. The Community Fund also contributes to government-run programs in Polk and Yamhill counties—the two counties most heavily impacted by the Casino.

In addition, Spirit Mountain Casino supports a variety of community organizations and activities through corporate sponsorships and other donations. The Casino has sponsored such worthy causes as the Salem Art Association, the Oregon Coast Aquarium and local food banks and charities.

Problem Gambling
Spirit Mountain Casino takes its social responsibilities seriously, and has been a valued partner with the Oregon Council on Problem Gambling in addressing problem gambling with prevention, treatment and research. Casino staff members receive education and training to build their awareness of gambling disorders. Tribal leaders are committed to supporting projects and programs, both at the Casino and throughout Oregon, that make a direct and positive impact on the issue. Their emphasis is on being front-line partners on programs that produce real results, rather than on simply making cash contributions and walking away.

The Spirit Mountain Community Fund has given more than $147,000 to fund studies and projects on problem gambling in partnership with Oregon Health Sciences University, the Oregon Council on Problem Gambling, the Yamhill County Gambling Treatment Program and the Oregon Lottery Commission.

Traffic
As Oregon’s population increases, so does the use of our highway system. Highways 18 and 22 have been particularly affected by the growth of both population and tourist attractions on the central coast. Two tribal casinos, the 68 outlet stores at the Factory Stores at Lincoln City, the popular Oregon Coast Aquarium, and the development of thousands of new home sites in Lincoln City all have contributed to the traffic congestion on these mostly rural highways.

Spirit Mountain has been working in partnership with the Oregon Department of Transportation, the Polk and Yamhill County Sheriff Departments and other public agencies to take pro-active steps toward finding solutions to the problems facing the local highway system.

Highway Improvements:

• The Tribes provided sole funding for the $2.5 million highway underpass at the entrance to Spirit Mountain Casino, eliminating the need for dangerous left-hand turns across Highway 18. The Tribes have also contributed to "rumble strips" and other safety improvements in the Highway 18 and Highway 22 corridors.
• The Tribes underwrote enhanced sheriff’s patrols on Highway 18, greatly increasing traffic safety. Ongoing partnerships with the Polk and Yamhill County Sheriff’s Departments and local fire departments provide a means to continue to address new safety issues as they arise.
• The Tribes underwrote the purchase of two state-of-the-art lasers for traffic enforcement along Highways 18 and 22, and has contributed to the installation of safety rumble strips. In addition, the Tribes have paid for a Highway 18 Incident Response Vehicle, "jaws of life" equipment and other enhanced emergency services for the area.
• By providing free shuttle bus service from both Portland and Salem, Spirit Mountain Casino takes more than 1,000 vehicles off Highways 18 and 22 each week. This shuttle service is one of the only means of mass transit available in the region.
• The Casino underwrites free bus transportation to every group of 30 people or more who are visiting the Casino. Several thousand Oregonians have participated in this free program, removing hundreds of vehicles from these highway systems each month.