The fees cover the years 1995 to 2014, The Lewiston Tribune reported. Additional fees are reportedly owed for the years 1987 to 1994 but those haven't been calculated.

Normally, the county attaches utility bills to property tax bills. But since the tribe doesn't receive property tax bills for its lands, the garbage bills that should have been mailed were never sent, a county official said.

“Basically, Idaho County has historically sent out its annual garbage utility fee attached to each property tax bill," the county said in a letter to the tribe, The Idaho County Free Press reported. "As you know, Nez Perce Tribe owned lands do not receive a property tax bill. As a result of this fact, our billing system also omitted the garbage utility bill for the Nez Perce Tribe owned properties. One is a tax, the other is a utility bill. The oversight dates back at least 28 years.”

It;s possible, however, that the county may not have the authority to impose the fees even if they are not labeled as a "tax." In Wisconsin, the 7th Circuit Court of
Appeals said a local government cannot impose storm water management fees on trust lands owned by the Oneida Nation.