It may be my imagination, but it seems as if the price for unleaded regular gas sold on the Port Madison Indian Reservation now occasionally is drifting higher than average off-reservation prices. I’m not sure that happened in the past. Maybe I’m wrong.
On Thursday, the price at the Masi Shop on Highway 305 was $3.80. The average price throughout Kitsap County was $3.74 on Thursday, according to auto club AAA.
I contacted the state Department of Revenue to see if there’d been a change in the tax arrangement with tribes. The folks said no.
I contacted Russell Steele, chief executive officer of Port Madison Enterprises, the business army of the Suquamish Tribe and operator of the tribal gas stations. He said there’d been no change with the tribe either, nor had the tribe changed its profit margin.
So for any answers, I’m running on empty.
One thing for certain. The prices everywhere are going up fast again. Just between Wednesday and Thursday, the average price across Kitsap County rose 6 cents, AAA said. We’re paying close to what we paid this time last year ($3.78).
— Rachel Pritchett, 360-475-3783
Their prices are either the BEST in the County or one of the highest. It seems like they do not know how to calculate the profit margin or when the casino is losing money they raise the prices just to get some return back on their losses. I figure the latter. I do gasbuddy.com everyday to report prices so I see the difference in prices daily. Seems East Bremerton is the best bargain now.