The Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors is set to discuss on Tuesday establishing a process for approving expenditures of “community benefit” funds to be received from commercial cannabis businesses that end up opening and operating in the county.
The Seal of Contra Costa County.
In December 2019, the supervisors chose four businesses to apply for storefront retail cannabis businesses, and seven more to apply for land use permits for commercial cannabis cultivation. Six of those proposals, including all four of the prospective storefront operations, included proposed financial “community benefit” contributions.
If each of those six operators ultimately opens for business, after several years, the total annual amount of community benefit money to be received by the county could be as high as $650,000 a year, above and beyond revenue the county would get from the County’s Cannabis Business Tax, sales tax and other sources.
The first community benefit payment is not expected to be submitted to the county until 2022 at the earliest.
Tuesday’s supervisors meeting begins at 9:30 a.m., and like almost all public governmental meetings these days, will be held over Zoom.
