Littleton considers marijuana sales tax increase on November ballot

BY NINA JOSS

NJOSS@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

In November, Littleton voters may be faced with a ballot question about increasing the special sales tax on marijuana.

e last time Littleton voters made a decision regarding sales tax on the drug was in 2013, when voters approved an additional 3% on retail marijuana.

is decision did not immediately impact tax revenue due to a moratorium on retail marijuana establishments in the city.

After Littleton voters approved a ballot measure allowing the sale of recreational marijuana in 2020, the city started to gather special retail marijuana sales tax. e city also receives a portion of the state tax, city documents say.

Littleton’s total marijuana tax revenues in 2021, including state and city portions, were approximately $373,000, according to city documents.

In 2022, revenues jumped to $868,000.

At a May 9 study session, Assistant City Manager Kathleen Osher said the city anticipates an increase of about $119,000 in revenue per 1% increase in special marijuana sales tax, based on projected revenues. e potential polling would be conducted by Todd Vitale of WPA

She asked city council if they would be interested in conducting polling to gauge voters’ interest in the measure, both to understand what percentage increase voters would support and where they would want revenue funds to be directed.

“I think we’ve learned in recent measures in front of our voters that the more speci c that we can be about how those revenues are being used, then the much stronger appeal that those measures have had with voters,” she said.

City sta suggested that additional revenue from an increased sales tax on marijuana could go towards enhanced police response, mental health response, sustained funding for the Tri-Cities Homelessness Action Plan, supporting proactive code compliance, dedicated resources for ongoing historical preservation e orts or other areas of council’s interest.

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Intelligence and would cost $40,000. is money would come from the city’s 2023 budget, which includes a proviso of $50,000 to support the polling and research related to a potential ballot question raising marijuana sales tax.

Polling: Waste of money or worthy investment?

District 1 Councilmember Pat Driscoll said polling would be a waste of money on this issue. “Spending 40 or 50 grand to go out there and poll people to say ‘Hey, would you be in favor of a higher tax on marijuana?’ To me, it’s a waste of money,” District 1 Councilmember Pat Driscoll said. “I think people will agree to whatever we decide … It’s such a small demographic that’s gonna really care.”

Mayor Kyle Schlachter, on the other hand, said polling is an important step towards being successful with a ballot item and that it would be worth the investment for the amount of revenue they could make in the long run.

“ e point of doing polling is, you know … it’s an investment, if we want to know what we can pass and what rate should we set it at that we want to be successful,” he said. “I know in the past Littleton has put ballot issues on the ballot and not done any polling and failed.”

District 3 Councilmember Stephen Barr said polling could be useful to see where citizens want the revenue to go, but he could go either way on it because a previous resident survey showed that citizens would generally support an increase.

Of the proposed revenue destinations, Mayor Pro Tem Gretchen Rydin said she did not support directing marijuana sales revenue towards homelessness initiatives.

“What I don’t love is con ating marijuana and homelessness,” she said. “Maybe mental health, I mean we know marijuana is addictive for sure, maybe something more speci c around addiction support.”

District 2 Councilmember Jerry Valdes said everyone is already being pushed to put more money towards homelessness anyways.

“I think if we add that to this measure, then that could be a dooms- day thing,” he said, adding that he supports putting the money towards police, mental health and addiction resources.

By the end of the meeting, Schlachter said the general consensus was to not spend the money on polling and that council would discuss levels of increase and revenue uses at a future meeting.

In the meantime, sta plans to have discussions with retailers about the topic.