The Ho-Chunk Nation announced Thursday they do not plan to pay the $60 million owed to the state under the gaming compact they signed with Gov. Jim Doyle. The Nation is not required to pay the money due to a Wisconsin Supreme Court decision last year.

Under the compact, the gaming tribe had agreed to pay the state $30 million a year in exchange for being allowed to add games such as poker, craps and roulette to its facilities.

However, the Republican Party protested the contract’s lack of an expiration date and argued it illegally expanded gambling. The Supreme Court then ruled the provision could not exist in perpetuity.

State Rep. Mike Ellis, R-Neenah, said Republicans disputed the gaming provisions in the contracts due to constitutional prohibitions on expanded gambling.

Thursday’s announcement drew scorn from numerous Republicans, who say the Ho-Chunk’s withdrawal of the compact money will only exacerbate the state’s budget deficit.

“Ho-Chunk owes the state $60 million dollars and, at some point, they will pay it,” Ellis said.

Ellis said he is confident Wisconsin Department of Administration Secretary Marc Marotta, who will participate in the negotiations process, will “get our money.”

Some officials have argued the cushion of funds were crucial to Doyle’s ability to balance the budget without increasing taxes.

Wisconsin will battle a $1.6 billion deficit in the next two years due to a shortfall in predicted income compared to state agency spending. Therefore, the governor and lawmakers will have to compensate for the deficit through spending cuts and perhaps tax increases.

Department of Administration Spokesman Scott Larrivee said the regulation has placed the state in a difficult position, but he added they would regularly meet with the tribes to agree to a contract with a shorter duration.

“We are confident and hopeful we will get a payment by June 30, which is the end of the fiscal year,” he said.

Larrivee added although the Supreme Court ruling returned 10 of the state’s 11 federally recognized tribes — including the Ho-Chunk — to the negotiating table with Doyle, nine casinos have continued making payments since the Supreme Court order.

Ho-Chunk spokeswoman Tracy Littlejohn defended the Ho-Chunk’s decision to not pay by pointing to a contractual clause relieving the casino of payment responsibilities if the jurisdiction deemed the compact invalid.

“We are not refusing to pay; we simply don’t owe any money,” Littlejohn said. “We decided to follow along with the Supreme Court’s decision, and we are just obeying the law.”

Littlejohn said she agreed the $60 million was a sizeable portion of the state’s plunging budget. But she said they would not have gone back to negotiations if not for the favorable outcome of the Republican-led lawsuit against Doyle’s tribe contracts. She also said both Ho-Chunk casino and the state would probably act in their own interests during the talks.