by Bill Knowles
TRINIDAD — Trinidad City Council received the second quarter financial report during the regular meeting on Tuesday evening. According to the city’s finance director Cheryl Navarette, the city is in good financial shape midway through 2017.
Year to date revenues are at $5.5 million, with revenues from marijuana sales tax coming in at $1.2 million and overall sales tax collection posting at $2.5 million. The city has expended about $4.69 million through the end of June. By this time last year the city had collected $2.1 million.
By the end of June 2016 there were nine dispensaries open with retail sales of $7.6 million generating $494,000 in sales taxes. As of June 2017 there were 17 dispensaries in operation, with $18.6 million in sales bringing in $1.2 million in revenues for the city, a $706,000 increase over 2016 by the end of June.
Third Judicial District DA Henry Solano spoke with the council about finances for his office. Thanking the city council for helping fund his office, he noted that council had also committed another $50,000 for 2018. He also thanked the city for contributing their older Local Area Network Servers (LANS) for use by his office. That and the funding the city provided has helped the office achieve some of the goals set out by the DA.
He also noted that the issues he brought up in the forum he held in July with agents from the Department of Justice, the DEA, FBI, and the CBI are reaching fruition, with several cases that will see the defendants facing sentence enhancers.
Another case saw the state charges dropped and federal drug charges applied after a federal grand jury indicted an alleged local heroin and methamphetamine dealer on charges of possession with intent to sell. The defendant will face federal time far from Trinidad, helping to fulfill promise the DA made to residents of both Huerfano County and Las Animas County calling for the removal of top criminals from both counties. The goal is to break associations that are built by individuals involved in the drug trade.
The city council also approved, on a 6-0 vote, with council member Liz Torres absent from the meeting, a new retail marijuana product manufacturing facility license. The facility will host a medical marijuana center, medical marijuana infused products manufacturing, and medical marijuana optional premises cultivation operation. The applications were filed by the parent company of CannaCo at 3019 Toupal Drive.
The council also approved the second reading, on a 6-0 vote, of an ordinance making zone changes on property to be used by Space to Create for low income housing to be used by artists.
A zone change for the development project involving La Puerta was also approved with a 6-0 vote. The zoning changed the property from growth-industrial to growth-community commercial and from growth-historic preservation to growth-community commercial.
The city council also accepted the results of the 2016 audit of the city by the firm Dixon and Waller, with a 6-0 vote.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:45 pm.
