Laserfiche WebLink
In December 2018, the City Council adopted Ordinance NS-2959 to establish the Cannabis Public Benefit <br />Fund (CPBF) for youth and enforcement services. The revenue source is two-thirds of the Cannabis <br />business tax collected from adult-use retail sales and supply activities such as cultivation, manufacturing <br />and distribution. The remaining one-third of the tax remains in the General Fund. <br />In October 2022, City Council took two actions: <br />1.Reduced the Cannabis industry tax rates <br />2. Adopted a Qualified Social Equity designation for a further 2% tax rate reduction. Qualified Social <br />Equity practices include paying prevailing wages, hiring from disadvantaged communities, supporting <br />local non-profit organizations, and skills training for employees. <br />For FY25-26, the adopted CPBF is $8.21 million, representing a reduction of $1.23 million from FY24-25. <br />The decrease is largely due to increased competition from the regional ŝůůĞŐĂů market, which continues to <br />offer lower prices, and an oversupply in the market as more cities allow cannabis sales. While this <br />reduction led to a decrease in the annual CPBF transfer, staff ensured there were no service-level <br />disruptions. For example, the CPBF previously funded the Police Department’s body-worn camera <br />program, which is now funded through the General Fund. At the same time, spending was strategically <br />rebalanced between youth services and enforcement services to better align with community priorities <br />for increased investment in youth. As a result, spending on youth programming increased from 47% to <br />52%, while spending on enforcement decreased from 53% to 48%. Summaries of spending follow on the <br />next page. <br />74