Whatcom County, cities to get nearly $268,000 of pot tax

Whatcom County and two of its cities are expected to get a combined $267,396 in annual marijuana tax revenue now that the state has decided to share.

That projected amount is for two years for marijuana enforcement and public safety. The first quarterly chunks of money went out earlier in October.

The amount each jurisdiction gets is based on taxable sales.

Whatcom County’s projected total is the fourth highest in the state.

The top five counties, according to annual projections from the Washington Liquor and Cannabis Board, are:

▪ King, $965,307

▪ Spokane, $442,917

▪ Snohomish, $349,753

▪ Whatcom, $160,438

▪ Thurston, $117,999

The state also is giving pot tax dollars to two cities in Whatcom County.

The largest total, by far, will go to Bellingham. It’s expected to get $102,286, which is the sixth highest of cities getting the tax dollars.

The second city in Whatcom County is Blaine, which will get $4,672.

Marijuana reform signed by Gov. Jay Inslee in June opened the way for the revenue tax sharing, rectifying what wasn’t addressed by voter-approved Initiative 502, which legalized recreational marijuana in Washington state in 2012.

As a result, the state will distribute $6 million this fiscal year and $6 million the next to cities and counties that have licensed retail pot stores or allowed pot growing and processing.

Counties and cities are expected to get back more tax dollars starting in 2018.

Exactly what local governments are required to spend their share on is murky. The state measure signed by Inslee designates that the money is to be used for marijuana enforcement and public safety, but those categories are broad, according to Candice Bock, government relations advocate with the Association of Washington Cities.

And neither is defined.

“The bottom line is it’s not entirely clear,” Bock said.

There’s also no language that bans a jurisdiction from using the dollars to replace existing funding, instead of doing more with the money.

“This doesn’t have that restriction,” Bock said.

So a city, for example, could decide it already is doing something about marijuana enforcement, take its share and plug that amount into its budget — then shift that same amount elsewhere to pay for something else.

This story was originally published October 31, 2015 at 12:10 PM with the headline "Whatcom County, cities to get nearly $268,000 of pot tax."