A marijuana plant, nearing its harvest stage, is pictured in 2018 at Grassroots Cannabis in Taneytown, Maryland. Isabella County and Mt. Pleasant are among the state municipalities receiving funding from the Michigan Marijuana Regulation Fund. (Dylan Slagle/The Baltimore Sun/TNS)
Isabella County and the city of Mt. Pleasant are among 269 Michigan municipalities getting funding from the Michigan Regulation and Taxation of Marijuana Act.
Isabella County is set to receive $345,518.10, and the city of Mt. Pleasant is getting $295,431.75. according to the Michigan Department of Treasury.
Isabella County Administrator Nicole Frost and Mt. Pleasant City Manager Aaron Desentz said the funds will support their respective general funds.
Marijuana taxation money that goes into the city’s general fund is not assigned to any particular activity but will help support police, fire, parks and other general government services, Desentz said.
Revenues from the taxation of adult-use marijuana will help the general fund in staffing and services, Frost said, adding that the county also received $6,626 in Medical Marihuana Operations and Oversight grant funding that comes from medical marijuana registration fees, and those funds are being used to purchase medication lock boxes to community members who have a need to keep marijuana items away from children.
Over the next several days, 99 cities, 30 villages, 69 townships and 71 counties will receive more than $59,000 each for every licensed retail store and microbusiness located within those jurisdictions.
“This week, many Michigan municipalities and counties will begin seeing their share of adult-use marijuana payments appear in their banking accounts,” State Treasurer Rachael Eubanks said. “Through a partnership, the dollars received from the adult-use marijuana taxes and fees are distributed to our participating communities.
“These dollars may be spent how our local units deem fit to their needs.”
Revenue was collected from 737 licensees among the state’s cities, villages and townships during the 2023 fiscal year. Some of these municipalities host more than one licensed retail store and microbusiness.
For the 2023 state fiscal year, there was more than $290.3 million available for distribution from the Marihuana Regulation Fund.
State law outlines how much is distributed from the Marihuana Regulation Fund.
Aside from the more than $87 million in disbursements to municipalities and counties, $101.6 million was sent to the School Aid Fund for K-12 education and another $101.6 million to the Michigan Transportation Fund.
“The tax funding for municipalities and counties that comes from the marijuana excise tax is a very important benefit of the legal cannabis industry in Michigan,” said Cannabis Regulatory Agency (CRA) Executive Director Brian Hanna. “The CRA is committed to doing our part in supporting our licensees so that they can continue to grow the local economy throughout the state with good-paying jobs and increased revenues for local government budgets.”
For more information about adult-use marijuana tax distributions – including a breakdown of how much municipalities and counties received – go to Michigan.gov/RevenueSharing. To learn more about Michigan’s adult-use marijuana industry, go to Michigan.gov/cra.
