Springfield voters likely to get say on recreational marijuana sales tax in August ballot

Springfield City Council hopes to put a 3% marijuana sales tax on the ballot this August. Revenue from sales of the drug would be earmarked for city public safety, housing, and substance abuse/mental health prevention and treatment.

The voter-approved constitutional amendment that legalized recreational marijuana last year sets a statewide sales tax of 6% on retail sales. The amendment allows municipalities and counties to impose an additional 3% percent tax within their borders, subject to voters' approval. Such taxes would be in addition to current state and local general sales taxes.

Many cities and counties across Missouri approved a recreational marijuana sales tax this April but Springfield held off to see how these other ballot initiatives faired. These initiatives were also successful specifically in southwestern Missouri. Voters in Christian, Webster, Polk, and Jasper counties as well as cities like Joplin and Ozark all said yes to local taxes on recreational marijuana.

Springfield was the largest municipality in the state that did not put a sales tax up for a vote. After seeing success elsewhere, council will vote on the proposed ballot measure next week and voters will have their say in August — where the tax will likely be the only item on the ballot. If approved, the tax hike would likely be put in place in January of April next year.

At a special City Council meeting Monday, City Manager Jason Gage said $1.3 million of revenue could be raised by the tax in a "really really rough" and low estimate. He noted revenue could "easily be three or four times that amount."

City Councilmembers unanimously supported such a tax at the meeting.

"We saw strong voter support for these initiatives in other communities and it's something that I think would produce some important revenue. The sooner we can get that before the voters, the better," said councilman Matt Simpson.

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Most at the meeting argued public safety should be a major focus for the revenue.

"We know what our chronic problems are … It's homelessness. It's alcohol, it's drug abuse. It's law enforcement problems. Most communities that have passed a marijuana tax have dedicated at least some of those resources to law enforcement. I think law enforcement will tell you there's going to be consequences — whether they're good or bad — but there's gonna be consequences to law enforcement," Councilman Craig Hosmer said, specifically referencing the need of drug recognition specialists.

Councilmember Brandon Jenson said services to Springfieldians experiencing homelessness should be prioritized in the funding.

"Currently within our proposed budget, we're allocating $34.6 million of general revenue to public safety and as far as I'm aware, $0 of general revenue to housing and homeless issues directly. And so I'd like to make sure that we use this to make a substantial effort to address homelessness within our community," Jenson said.

Jenson argued council should adopt ballot language specifying 50% of revenue from the tax goes to housing or services to unhoused individuals. A majority of council members disagreed, opting against specific percentages in the ballot language.

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"Percentages make sense. On the other hand, are we locking ourselves into specific categories? When if we do keep it a bit more broad, then it can be adapted to the needs as the needs of our community change..." Councilwoman Heather Hardinger noted. "There's just so many unknowns. I think that locking ourselves into a percentage for any specific allocation for this type of funding doesn't make sense."

Greene County has also not yet imposed a recreational marijuana sales tax. Based on the language of Missouri's constitutional amendment, it is unclear if a city and a county's marijuana sales tax can stack over one another. The Missouri Department of Revenue has told news organizations it can't provide guidance and the matter is likely to be resolved in court.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: City considers recreational marijuana sales tax on August ballot