Tribal and Local Government Agreements: Negotiating Mutually Beneficial Terms for Consideration of Services

As a result of changing federal Indian policy over the past few hundred
years, Indian reservations today are oft en home to both tribal and
state- based local governments as well as home to both tribal members
and non- members. Tribal and local governments have an obligation to
provide services to reservation residents. Governments with overlapping
jurisdiction and a shared obligation to provide services to reservation
residents oft en face difficulty when considering how to acknowledge and
account for the services they each provide and determining how to deliver
such services in a cost- effective manner. Th is study examined 117 written
agreements between tribes and local governments from 51 different
Indian reservations throughout the United States. Th is article provides a
few recommendations for tribes and local governments to consider when
addressing the provision of services within shared spaces.