‘We’re broke billionaires’
Budget hearing weighs $10 billion in investments against chapter needs
WINDOW ROCK
The Navajo Nation holds roughly $10 billion in investments Controller Sean McCabe told a budget public hearing yet left about $58 million unspent last fiscal year out of roughly $313 million budgeted for its three branches.
Delegate Amber Kanazbah Crotty put the issue plainly as the Budget and Finance Committee opened its fiscal 2027 public hearings.
“So we’re all billionaires. Navajos are billionaires––we’re broke billionaires, but we’re billionaires,” Crotty said, after McCabe told her the Nation’s total investments, including external funds, come to about $10 billion.
The exchange framed a four-hour hearing at San Juan Chapter, where committee members explained how the Nation’s budget is built, then heard from Northern Agency chapter officials on oil royalties, elections, illegal dumping and underfunding at the chapter level.
It was the first of several agency hearings the committee plans throughout the Navajo Nation as it gathers public input for the comprehensive budget being assembled for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1.
To read the full article, please see the June 11, 2026, edition of the Navajo Times.
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