The town has cut checks for just over $572,000 to Nixon Peabody, LLP, the Boston law firm hired in last August to represent the town in its case against the Shinnecocks.
Other monies have been allocated for miscellaneous, non-legal expenses connected to the casino case, including $20,000 for historical and genealogical consultants researching the Shinnecock Nation's history, and finances for town officials to travel to Connecticut to visit two Native American gaming facilities and meet with local officials. Southampton Town Attorney Stephen Brown said this week that he does not believe those additional expenses totaled more than about $50,000.
Members of the Shinnecock Nation expressed outrage this week that the town was spending what they termed an "exorbitant" amount of money on the fight. Shinnecock Indian Nation Board of Tribal Trustees Chairman Lance Gumbs said he saw the maneuvering as a personal attack on the tribe's existence.
"The town has not only challenged the casino issue," he said. "They've taken it further and actually challenged our very existence. We never anticipated the town to be fighting us the way that they have."
He added that he believes town taxpayers should be concerned with how much money is being spent on the Shinnecock case.
Members of the tribe waited out a long list of hearings at Tuesday's Town Board meeting in order to speak against the continued legal battle during a public portion of the meeting.
Toting signs reading "Taxpayer Money Pays for War on Shinnecocks," members of the tribe demanded that the Town Board reject the expenditure and not continue to fight the existence of a Shinnecock casino, currently slated for a tribe-owned site off Newtown Road in Hampton Bays.
"We're talking about a group that has been persecuted since day one," tribe member Rebecca Genia said heatedly, "and you spend five damn hours on some bullshit. I will take this to the streets and tell the taxpayers what their money is going to, that a war [has been declared] on the Shinnecock Indians."
"I think it would be a mistake for the town to plunge down this road without considering where it is going," said George Stankevich, the tribe's attorney. He told the Town Board that the courts have repeatedly suggested that the two parties discuss settlement, but that the town's outside counsel has refused.
Tribal officials maintained that the town's expenses in the case were nearing the $1 million mark, but Town Supervisor Patrick Heaney said at Tuesday's meeting that the figure was simply not accurate.
Ms. Genia told the board that the squabble over how much has been spent so far is irrelevant. "You say it isn't $850,000 yet, but it will be," she said.
Darlene Collins told the board that it is time the town gave back to the Shinnecock, and that if they are so opposed to a casino, they should provide alternatives to the tribe.
"You may not have the power to change everything," she said. "But you have the power to change some things. Do something to help us."
Tribal elder Elizabeth Haile told the board she felt it was unwise to allocate $100,000 to fight against the Shinnecock's only chance at self-sufficiency.
"That's a lot of money to me," she said. "I know you don't think so."
Mr. Heaney said he wished the town did not have to continue shelling out money for the case. "The town would love to be in the position to not spend one nickel," he said. "But we have to consider the best interests of the entire community."
He said a majority of the board felt that a casino would be detrimental to the town as a whole, and, on a personal note, he felt casinos "suck the decency out of a community."
Town Councilman Dennis Suskind thanked the tribal members for their comments and said that the board would consult again with its outside council to see if settlement was a sensible option.