by Bill Knowles
TRINIDAD — Trinidad City Council met for a work session on Thursday, Feb. 15 so they could begin developing a policy that will state their goals concerning the allocation of the 5% retail marijuana tax revenue.
The approach that was recommended is the process called pay-go. “Allocate only what you have on hand. Don’t forward your funds because there isn’t any money there yet,” said city manager Greg Sund.
Allocating payments as the funds roll in would allow the council to make more small allocations over the course of the year as opposed to just one or two big ones.
Council member Kathy Griego wanted to know how much the city spent on funding non-profits in 2017, citing $2 million as a number she was able to draw from the marijuana tax revenues for 2017. Sund noted funding for outside agencies come from several account funds, not just the marijuana tax revenues. “The majority of them are funded through the general fund.”
“What I recommend is use the subsidies that have a short term nature to them. We have subsidies that are asked for every year and that is a general fund sort of thing,” said Sund.
As for timing on the disbursement of the marijuana tax revenues, Trinidad Mayor Phil Rico recommended they be awarded on a quarterly basis rather than a monthly basis.
Council member Michelle Miles argued for disbursements to occur over longer periods of time, saying that quarterly seemed too frequent for accountability and transparency reasons.
Council member Rusty Goodall thinks the city should set up a cash fund to help entice businesses into the city by not only offering them a tax break but cash as well, like they do in Pueblo and Denver. “This would set us apart from other small communities in the state.”
“It should not be in the general fund, but controlled by the council,” he added.
However, there are funds that serve that function in the economic development budget. Those funds are based on revenues the city has received from the sale of land it owned.
Council member Carlos Lopez noted the previous city council mandated that the marijuana tax revenues would go to after school education, arts and culture, and general municipalities. He attributed that statement to former city manager Gage Engeland.
After a brief general discussion by council and staff on the “mandate”, council member Anthony Mattie said to Lopez, “You were misinformed.”
Miles said she would like to see the majority of the funds spent on something that would affect the broad population of Trinidad such as the infrastructure project.
The city is projecting about $2.2 million will be available for disbursement in 2018.
