Proposed tax on Sonoma County pot businesses goes to voters Tuesday

A Sonoma County cannabis business tax proposed to raise millions of dollars to cover the cost of regulating the legal marijuana trade goes to a vote Tuesday in a special election that feels low key compared to the packed, high-stakes balloting in November.

Placed before voters by the Board of Supervisors and opposed by local pot growers, Measure A, the lone countywide issue on the special election ballot, has prompted no visible campaign from supporters.

The United Food and Commercial Workers Union, with a membership that includes about 2,000 cannabis industry workers, has sponsored a ?30-second television commercial opposing Measure A that is airing on cable news networks

County officials have estimated voter turnout of up to ?35 percent, which would match voter participation in the last election on a proposed countywide tax, in June 2015. That sales tax was intended to raise proceeds intended for road repairs, but the measure was thrashed by a 62 percent “no” vote.

The failure was widely attributed to the 2015 measure being offered as general tax, meaning the revenue goes into the county’s general fund and can be spent at the supervisors’ discretion.

This year’s Measure A, also a general tax, says on the ballot it will “fund essential county services such as addressing (marijuana) industry impacts, public safety, fire, health, housing, roads, and environmental protection.” It needs a majority vote to be approved.

The cannabis business tax would establish a levy of up to 10 percent of gross receipts on pot growers and related businesses located outside the county’s nine cities.

At the initial proposed rates of 0.5 percent to 5 percent, the tax would reap $6.3 million annually. At the maximum ?10 percent rate, it would generate ?$15.6 million a year.

There are about 9,000 cannabis industry members in the county, including about ?5,000 growers, according to the Sonoma County Growers Alliance, which represents local cannabis cultivators. The 260-member alliance is opposed to Measure A, largely because it considers the maximum ?10 percent tax rate excessive.

Supervisor Shirlee Zane, the board chairwoman, said Friday she is “optimistic that voters will overwhelmingly support Measure A.”

County officials “worked tirelessly with stakeholders” to craft a “viable measure to put before voters,” Zane said in an email.

She said that if the tax measure fails, the county will lack the resources to issue local permits for cannabis businesses, which are needed to obtain state licenses to operate under the new legal framework approved by voters.

“Permits are the pathway for the industry to become lawful,” Zane said.

Alexander Carpenter, a cannabis industry consultant who heads the Sonoma County Cultivation Group, said growers “can’t trust the county to spend the money” on cannabis-related matters.

The county is “more interested in preserving their pensions” and hiring more employees, he said.

If Measure A loses, Carpenter said, “everybody goes back to the drawing board” and the industry would work with the county on a revised tax.

Without money, he said, “the county will have an incentive to negotiate.”

Supervisor James Gore said the county is “always open to discussion.”

Gore thinks the tax is fair, with the 10 percent cap “right in line with (taxes approved in) other jurisdictions.”

If Measure A fails, “it’s just going to delay the inevitable,” with another pot tax likely to pass soon, he said.

Critics have faulted the county for spending $400,000 on a special election, but Gore said the next general election is not until June 2018. State officials are aiming to begin issuing marijuana business licenses in January.

The county has issued nearly 174,000 mail-in ballots for Tuesday’s election, and just over 65,000 had been returned on Friday, a level that Bill Rousseau, the county’s registrar of voters, said was a bit disappointing. There are nearly 272,000 registered voters in the county.

Votes against a tax measure are typically heavier in a low-turnout special election than in a general election, Gore said.

You can reach Staff Writer Guy Kovner at 707-521-5457 or guy.kovner@pressdemocrat.com.

On Twitter @guykovner.