EASTHAMPTON — Legalized sales of recreational marijuana have given the city a financial boost of nearly $58,000.
Easthampton received $57,843 from tax revenues for INSA’s sales of marijuana from the previous quarter, according to city treasurer Melissa Zawadzki. INSA opened on Dec. 22, and it is the only pot shop open so far in the city and the only source for the tax payment.
The city received an additional $45,000 from five marijuana companies that have paid the fee required when signing a community host agreement: INSA, The Verb is Herb, Herbology, Holistic Industries, and Green Life Dispensary. The Verb is Herb is expected to open in May or June and Herbology in January 2020.
Green Life has yet to acquire a building permit, according to City Planner Jeff Bagg. A message left for Holistic Industries on Wednesday seeking information on its plans was not returned by press time.
Mayor Nicole LaChapelle said she did not expect the city to match Northampton’s haul in tax revenues from New England Treatment Access (NETA), which generated $737,331.40 for the city, because NETA had the “novelty of being first.”
The revenues from Easthampton come from a 3 percent local tax on all gross sales of recreational marijuana at INSA. The state receives 17 percent of the money spent on recreational marijuana from a state sales tax of 6.25 percent and a 10.75 percent excise tax.
“I didn’t hold an expectation,” LaChapelle said about the pot tax revenues. “I’m not banking a big part of the budget on marijuana revenues, and we are conservative in seeing how the market goes forward.”
The revenues have gone into the city’s general fund and will help with funding public infrastructure projects, and keeping police, fire and “core services” level-funded, LaChapelle said.
The city will receive quarterly payments based on the fiscal year. The next disbursement of marijuana tax money to the city will be in June, and will consist of the revenue collected for the city from February through April.
A signed host agreement is a requirement of the state Cannabis Control Commission. The impact fee, set in the host agreement, is a one-time payment to mitigate the cost of having INSA operate in the city.
Luis Fieldman can be reached at lfieldman@gazettenet.com