Keeping the Golden Goose Alive: Humboldt County Makes Changes to Measure S That Provide Some Relief for Cannabis Cultivators
[Photo by Kym Kemp]
John Bartholomew who is the County Treasurer-Tax Collector explained, “I believe this to be a prudent change to support the long term viability of the cannabis industry in Humboldt County”.
Humboldt County Growers Alliance (HCGA)
Natalynne DeLapp
DeLapp called this a “huge win for our industry.” She points out there are several changes to the law, but what she most wants the Humboldt County legal cannabis community to understand is that the Measure S Cultivation Tax will no longer be paid prior to harvest but the next year after sales have (hopefully) been made.
According to information sent out to cultivators today from the County, “What this means for farmers is that payment for 2019 cultivation taxes, WILL NOT be billed until January 2020, and the first installment payment will be due on March 15, 2020.” The second will be due on October 15, 2020. And the tax doesn’t start until the plants are on the permitted site.
DeLapp notes, “When people got their interim permit, they were liable [for the tax] immediately …and were billed even if they might not grow.” This, she said, “started resentment.” Cultivators received letters that they believed required them to sign up for a permit by the end of 2017 or damage their chances of getting one later. Then those farmers that did so discovered that they were required to pay 2017 taxes on the cultivation area they signed up for, whether they had grown it or not as well as the 2018 taxes. While farmers who didn’t sign up until after January 2018 only had to pay 2018 taxes.
DeLapp says this change to the Cultivation Tax will provide some relief for farmers now especially for those that are permitting an area that they won’t be able to farm immediately and will allow them flexibility to request the Planning Department change the square footage they actually grow on their permitted parcel depending on “market conditions, economic conditions, or business conditions, or weather condtions.”
Some cultivators, she explained, live in mountainous regions and depending on weather conditions and snow levels might cultivate more or less of their permitted area.
Some, she said, “might get a permit approved months in advance of when the growing season starts.” With this change, they won’t have to pay taxes on land they haven’t even put into production.
“The cannabis industry is struggling with over-taxation on the state level and yesterday’s vote provides relief and greater flexibility on the local level,” said Terra Carver, Executive Director of HCGA. “The goal is to create a sustainable revenue stream from Measure S, to benefit the entire county.”
DeLapp said Measure S has put seventeen million dollars back into Humboldt County public safety efforts so far and she agrees with Carver that this money is a steady source that needs to be nurtured so that it continues to generate revenue for decades to come. (We have reached out to the Humboldt County Planning Department for confirmation on this number but had not heard back as of publishing time.)
Bud in a Southern Humboldt garden [Photo by Kym Kemp]
She added, “Cannabis has been contributing to the County…Cultivators are going to continue to pay their fair share. This [change] just pushed it out this cycle. The county is going to get everything it has coming. There is just going to be a little bit of a delay when that comes.”
Supervisors also directed their staff to come back with recommendations on creating tax incentives for the cannabis community to become more environmentally responsible. These will address providing tax relief for those using solar or other renewable energy sources and for those creating water storage so that rivers and traditional water sources won’t be drawn down during Humboldt’s dry summer months.
DeLapp said that tax change won’t be easy. She explained, “Tax assessment is directed by State and Federal [government agencies]. The county needs to look at those and see what they can’t do. It is require legal thought and analysis for if and how the county can implement this.” She said the Sanctuary Forest has, however, done some work in this area and may be able to show a path forward.
She reminds farmers that the cultivation taxes will still come due next year. “Budget for it,” she said. This change just created a delay on the Humboldt County Cannabis Cultivation tax but the same taxes are due March of 2020.
We’ve requested more information on how the changes to Measure S will affect the county but have not yet heard back from the Planning Department at this time.
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Budget for it….
Yeah right.
Since most people weren’t wealthy enough to go legal, this will provide very little relief. A cap on legal farm size would help legal and black market growers.
If you want Humboldt to stay alive stop sending out the abatement letters !!!!!
Bet there’s a new batch of abatements coming out tonight. Times standard. You’re welcome
The connection nobody wants to point out is that Terra and Natalynne are working with the same system that is sending out the abatement letters. Indeed…the abatement letters and shutdowns help their cause and they are paying fees that actually help fund that program. Humboldt Growers Alliance is a group of government collaborators. They are doing nothing to push down abatements of smaller scenes or even 6-plant legal grows. They are the lobbying arm for a group of permitted farms. And that’s how they get paid. So yeah- listen to what they say with that perspective…
Because Marijuana is an essential element of a healthy lifestyle…
I think it’s too late and too little, but, good try!
DO NOT trust Natalynn!!!
Go back in public records and read her comments to the board when she was the ED of epic and said one acre was too big of a grow and then released a press statement with green diamond logging company regarding the horrors of pot while the ED of epic then all of a sudden shes an advocate of growers???
Watch out for real. Not a trustworthy person unfortunately.
This is the second piece of good news this week for the local cannabis industry! (The other news is the death of Humboldt counties Track and Trace program!!!!).
This will allow more financial ‘breathing room’. Takes some pressure off. And we can hope that this will provide time to lobby the Supervisors to reduce the tax rate.
After so many decisions that have been damaging to the local cannabis industry, to those who are trying to do the right thing, this is a welcome piece of good news.
Now. If the state will extend the deadlines for interim permits we will actually have a chance (to be a highly regulated, low return business. lol).
From the many challenges that legal farmers have faced, the glass today looks half full.
Bring back the interim permits! Now that would help us mom and pops have time and $$$ to finish the process. Agreed.
I wish legal growers would stay in the white market and not f it up for everyone else. You chose your lane now stay in it!
I imagine that the white market growers are saying pretty much the same thing. They are trying to do the right thing and getting hit with taxes, fees and paperwork at every corner while the black market is flooded with cheap weed making it very difficult to make a profit in the white market.
Wrong: different markets. One is shelf space in clubs, other is interstate.
Another thing to add is it’s not flooded. All of Hayfork is sold out before spring break and prices are high currently. Buyers are struggling to fill orders. They just don’t want your over priced powdery moldy scumboldt bud anymore.
Yeah but they want the good stuff and they are paying like it’s 2014 baaaaaby
a great reprieve for them good job natalyyne !! about other struggling businesses ..overall hum county sales taxes are down 15% in one year! The supervisors can only ignore this so long .
From what I understand, it’s just the county T+T. The state still has a T+T in place..I wouldn’t get too giddy yet..lol
Apparently the state T&T program does not become a burden until a farm has it’s Annual Permit from CA, which, as things are going, could be a while yet. :/
Savor the little (perceived) victories as they come. (Legal farmers are so downtrodden this seems like something to get “giddy” about. That, in itself is telling! Lol).
Better than nothing but no help at all for the overall picture. Ask any business around. The few that are licensed with not support this economy. Wait and see.
Baby steps
This is like throwing the “Golden Goose” a speck of grain while it’s starving to death.. then expecting it to produce eggs..
Lol !!! This is giving 90% of us nothing because the stupidvisors are announcing there re-elections. There trying to make it appear as if there doing something positive for there constitutes when in fact there doing nothing. Let’s not forget how good buissness was for EVERYONE before this treasonous theiving slime hid sneakily in there chambers REVISING there ordinance! !!!
CA is going to have the same problem with overproduction that OR has.
https://www.lamag.com/citythinkblog/california-weed-surplus/
Big deal. Pay your taxes later, but you still owe the same amount. If you’re flush with cash it doesn’t matter when the taxes are due. If you’re not, there is no tax reduction, therefore, you’re still against a wall trying to succeed. Madrone was quite wise to recommend reducing the tax rate from $1/sqft to $.50/sqft. Would you rather have 1000 growers paying $1/sqft or 3000 growers paying $.50/sqft? Afterall, once the growers are successful (2-5 years) you can then raise the taxes! Good luck Humboldt!
Although the deferment helps, it really does very little. Once again, there was very little outreach by the County to solicit input from the farmers. I believe there were less than six folks who addressed the Board. The few who did attend the meeting asked that the taxes be repealed, lowered or deferred. This included Ken Sawatsky, who many consider a right wing conservative opposed to cultivation.
Soupy Madrone made some very good suggestions, including providing incentives, streamlining the permitting process to get more people permitted, lowering the tax for outdoor, sun grown cannabis, flexibility for crop sizes, some sort of relief for crop failure and deferment of the tax payment until the following year, which was approved.
In regards to incentives, Madrone suggested tax deductions for additional restoration efforts, water storage, local road improvements, renewable energy production, etc. This type of incentive would allow a portion of the taxes to be reinvested in the area of the cultivation, which obviously has impacts on the local watershed and roads.
Madrone felt if more folks were permitted the County could lower the tax, because there would be more farmers paying the tax. Obviously, streamlining the onerous, burdensome and costly permitting process seems to be a no brainer. Good gosh, the CMMLUO, CCLUO, Version 1 and Version 2 regulations should be consolidated into one set of regulations.
Madrone also suggested reducing the outdoor tax from $1.00 to $.50 a square foot to incentivize sun grown cannabis. Great idea that fell on deaf ears. Also, apparently, if one has a permit for 10,000 square feet and only grows 6,000 square feet, they are taxed for the permitted size and not the actual grow size. A missed opportunity!
Once again the County should have or could have reached out to the stakeholders, sent out notices to all the folks with permits and those trying to get permits, establish an advisory committee, sent out surveys to the stakeholders. Then again, not sure they want to hear from the stakeholders.
The only thing that changed was deferring the taxes until the following year. The BOS had a great opportunity to make real change, they dropped the ball.
You are incorrect. The changes allow flexibility for the farmer as it states in the article. The cultivator can decide to grow 6000 feet of their 10,000, notify the planning department, and then only pay for the 6000 feet.
I find it hysterical the government running anything and people falling for it hook line and sinker.
The rush to do it . So sad it could have been so much better for all , but greed and control always rule.
We the voters have the final say,our time is coming and we will put people in office that will work for US.we should put a initiative in to vote on that our county supervisors only have a term of 24 months in case we ever get a batch like we have now. MAKE SURE TO BE AT THE POLLS ON ELECTION DAY!!!!! just hang in there people.
Miss-d Opportunity, with all these suggestions why are you not showing up at the BOS to share your thoughts?
The agenda comes out every week, you can have it automatically emailed to you, and you’re encouraged to look at it for issues you’re concerned with.
All Supervisor’s emails are listed. The public is welcome to reach out to their representatives. Or you can show up in person.
The county works on more than just cannabis. It notices all sectors equally. It’s up to the public to chose to engage and be responsible for the issues they’re concerned with. After more than 40 public meetings addressing the two ordinances, with a wide variety of stakeholder engagement (from more than just weed people), including DFW, tribes, NIMBY neighbors, Fortuna, environmental organizations, and state agencies, Humboldt has two completed ordinances, and is CEQA compliant, which is more than I can say for almost every other jurisdiction in the state.
As of Jan. 1, 2018, state law is crystal clear, more than 6 cannabis plants = commercial cultivation and requires state license and local authorization. For all those that missed the boat back in 2016 when the first opportunity came (and went) to get local authorization, there was a second opportunity to complete and submit an application to the county before Dec. 31, 2018 for pre-existing. There is no more “interim permitting” in Humboldt or California, that ship sailed.
“New” cultivation is what is available in California and Humboldt, and that means the zoning has to meet the use, have all necessary set-backs, environmental studies, and be in conformance with state and local laws before commercial operations can begin.
Actually, on December 18, Supervisor Rex Bohn directed staff to add water storage incentives discussion to the agenda. And, that same day, Supervisor Ryan Sundberg asked staff to look at ways to re-evaluate how the county handles the cultivation tax, which is what brought the topic of discussion to the table last week.
And if you don’t think what just happened is a substantial change, go talk to the many other agencies that we’re planning on receiving funds from Measure S to continue to provide services to the entire community e.g. public safety, infrastructure improvements, family services, etc. $7M is staying “for the time being” in the pockets of permitted cannabis farmers so they can start the 2019 season off with (hopefully) a little reserve.
The Droids say seven plants are commercial, huh? I think we need a bit more evidence than their say-so.
Webster, and both Federal and State Constitutions clearly explain what commerce is – -i fail to see where seven plants are mentioned.
ASK – will T.H.E.Y. (The Hierarchy Enslaving You), accept foreign owned, private printed I.O.U. debt notes as payment? The California State Constitution says, “No”.
Notice, the word law isn’t within any of their spell-binding words-on-paper, scribed by the equally foreign British BAR cult.
” . . . changes to tax law for those growing marijuana.” Well, what if one is growing the Asian herb, HEMP, and NOT marihunie?
Who are these persons? Where’s their license? Where’s their Oath of office. Where’s their Bond filed into the public record to back up their lie-ability?
“Occupy” takes on a whole different meaning here.