Humboldt Supes Approve a Four-Year Payment Plan for Measure S Cannabis Tax Debts

Having repealed the Measure S cannabis excise tax, Humboldt County’s Board of Supervisors has now extended the deadline for paying back tax debts. approved a four-year repayment plan for outstanding tax debts.*

The deadline for paying overdue Measure S taxes was the end of this month. But at the Dec. 9 board meeting, supervisors came up with a new plan for paying the debts – starting in 2026, cannabis farmers will pay 25 percent of what they owe each year of a four-year period.

Planning Director John Ford said 518 permit holders owe Measure S taxes, a little more than half of the total number of permitted cultivators.

He told supervisors if the deadline they had set is followed, his department would suspend the permits of those who still owe taxes, with large batches of permit revocations in February.

Ford suggested there’s an opening for doing something else.

“Every number up there represents a person,” he said of a chart quantifying the county’s Measure S debts. “Some of them have stories that it’s hard for me not to be sympathetic to. I know this is a hard decision and that’s why I wanted to bring it back and make sure this is really the direction the board wanted to go.”

Ford added that late winter into spring is when cannabis crop sales yield the highest returns.

“And so some people who are willing to pay their taxes would like the opportunity to pay them but need that amount of time,” he said.

Supervisors were hesitant to stick to the deadline, which extended a previous deadline by nine months.

At the time the Dec. 31, 2025 deadline was set, Supervisor Michelle Bushnell, then chair of the board, said it would be final.

But noting the cannabis price timing and that property taxes are due and Christmas is nearing, she vouched for the four-year tax debt payment extension.

Cultivators who spoke supported it, including Indy Riggs of the Stafford-based Galactic Farms.

“With emerging markets and economic sectors, especially in rural areas such as ours, you cannot tax and regulate an economic sector into prosperity,” he said. “But you can support that sector to the point that it does become prosperous and then maybe there could be some money from that.”

Ross Gordon of the Humboldt Growers Alliance said a four-year payment period will ultimately yield the results supervisors seek.

“I think we’ll bring more revenue into the county and we’ll avoid putting you in the position of having to create these punitive actions that I think nobody really wants to take for people who are showing good faith by virtue of paying annually,” he continued. “So I would encourage giving people a longer timeline to pay as long as they are meeting a certain minimum amount annually.”

Most supervisors supported the four-year, 25 percent a year plan.

Revocations are still in the mix, however, as permit holders who haven’t entered into a payment agreement plan with the county by the end-of-the-month deadline will be subject to suspension and revocation.

With Measure S repealed by supervisors, the debts are all that remains to be paid.

Supervisors voted 4-1 to approve the deadline extension, with Supervisor Steve Madrone voting against. He had said a shorter timeframe of two-and-a-half years is reasonable.

The county is owed $13.4 million in Measure S taxes, including debts of 234 cultivators whose permits have been denied, suspended and/or revoked.

The average debt amount is $10,000 and the highest single debt is about $194,000.

*Note: This article has been adjusted to clarify that while the Board of Supervisors approved a four-year repayment plan for outstanding Measure S tax debts, the deadline for entering into a payment agreement was not extended.

Earlier:

• Voters Urged to Vote No on Measure S, the County Marijuana Tax, by Southern Humboldt Coummunity Alliance
• Frustration and Fear: Local Cannabis Farmers Ask for Help, Claim Measure S Could Put Them Out of Business and Deprive County of Their Tax Revenue
• Keeping the Golden Goose Alive: Humboldt County Makes Changes to Measure S That Provide Some Relief for Cannabis Cultivators
• Judge Decides Lawsuit Over Measure S, the Humboldt County Cannabis Tax
• Measure S Refund Application Process
• Amid a Collapsing Cannabis Economy, Community Members Ask Humboldt County BOS to Suspend the Measure S Cultivation Tax
• Eureka Courthouse Rally Opposing Measure S on Tuesday
• Rally to Suspend Measure S, the Humboldt County Cannabis Cultivation Tax, Today at Noon
• Large Crowd of Cannabis Cultivators and Their Allies Ask for Relief From ‘Punitive’ Measure S Tax at Yesterday’s Courthouse Rally
• Measure S Cannabis Taxes Debated Without SoHum’s Supervisor, Juvenile Hall Treatment Plan, Auditor Controller Gives Payroll Presentation & More From Yesterday’s Supes Meeting
• Measure S Cannabis Tax Modification Is Topic of Special Board of Supervisors Meeting – Monday Morning
• Cannabis Cultivators Happy as Measure S Taxes Deferred and Reduced
• Humboldt County Supervisors Amend Measure S, Remove Cultivation Tax for 2022 and 2023
• Humboldt County Says That Outstanding Measure S Payments Accepted In Any Amount Through December 31, 2024
• Scary Deadlines Coming for Humboldt County Cannabis Growers in Arrears on Measure S Taxes
• Humboldt County to Begin Revoking Cannabis Permits Over Unpaid Measure S Taxes
• Humboldt Supes Take Action on Measure S Tax Debts
• As Measure S Debts Linger, Humboldt Approves 21 More Cannabis Permit Revocations