Pubdate: Mon, 10 Jan 2011
Source: Daily Times-Call, The (Longmont, CO)
Copyright: 2011, The Daily Times-Call
Contact:  http://www.timescall.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1475
Author: Scott Rochat
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?277 (Cannabis - Medicinal -  Colorado)

MONEY IN THE POT

Dispensaries Bring Longmont $61,798 in Sales Tax

LONGMONT - Medical marijuana isn't big business in Longmont - but it 
may be a bigger business than in Boulder.

Not in terms of gross dollars, of course. Through October 2010 (the 
most recent date for which there are figures), Boulder took in 
$444,777 in sales tax from its dispensaries. Longmont saw a 
comparatively small $61,798.

But Boulder has 117 dispensaries with business and sales tax licenses 
(and another 62 that never applied for the former). Longmont has nine.

Add it up. That's about $6,866 per Longmont dispensary. Boulder's 
averages out to just shy of $2,485 - or to about $3,801 if you 
include only the fully licensed businesses.

"I wonder if that's to do with the market conditions," said Longmont 
revenue manager Ezequiel Vasquez. "There's less competition."

And not much room for more. Longmont has had a moratorium on new 
dispensaries since fall 2009. It currently is set to last until June 
30, the day before new state regulations on medical marijuana take effect.

July 1 is also the deadline for municipalities to enact their own 
regulations. That can range from local licensing standards to an 
outright ban of medical marijuana businesses.

It's an issue that's taken time for some communities to work out. In 
October 2009, Dacono laid out zoning rules for dispensaries. The 
following May, a moratorium went into place. The city now has three 
dispensaries, one still new enough that there aren't sales tax 
numbers for it yet.

"We're going to be looking, probably in February or March, on what 
we're doing long-term," said Dacono administrator Bill Efting. "We 
need to figure out what we're doing by July 1 for sure, and we hope 
to have it worked out by the first of May."

Dacono's two reporting dispensaries brought in a combined $18,260 of 
sales tax, as of October 2010.

By comparison, the business seems to be narrowing in Lyons. The small 
town started the year with seven dispensaries, and was down to four 
by October, according to town administrator Victoria Simonsen.

A couple had been licensed but never actually got under way, Simonsen 
said, while others dropped out rather than go through the state 
licensing process. Lyons is working with the remaining four, she 
said, as the town designs its local licensing authority and zoning 
rules for dispensaries.

"We have a goal set to have those things in place by the end of 
March," she said.

During the 10-month period, Lyons collected $3,067 in sales tax from 
the dispensaries.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom