Manteca has collected $760,749.81 in the first 16 months of legal cannabis sales being allowed in the city.

The City Council adopted an ordinance that allows up to three store-front cannabis dispensaries.

Manteca currently, only has one location, which is Off the Charts on West Yosemite Avenue near the municipal wastewater treatment plant.

Even with just one current storefront, municipal finance staff reports revenue to the city continues to grow with each passing month.

Off the Charts sold its first product in Manteca in February 2025.

Nectar opened four months later off of West Yosemite Avenue in the center behind Valley Oak Dental but closed before the end of 2025.

A third dispensary, Embarc, was granted a cannabis sales permit the city-approved for behind the Dairy Queen on South Main Street and was location specific. That deal fell through.

Embarc, that has a Tracy location, has been scouring Manteca for a site that meets the city’s stringent cannabis location regulations in terms of distance from various other uses such as residents, schools, youth facilities, and such.

If and when they find a location, it must be approved by the City Council.

The permit tied to Nectar is not required to be issued to another qualified vendor under the municipal ordinance.

And, for that matter, if Embarc opted to change course and not open in Manteca, there is no requirement that the permit allotted to them be re-issued to another qualified concern.

The ordinance allows up to three dispensaries. That means one, two, three, or none are all options.

The city did not make specific net revenue projections when they were negotiating community benefit agreement.

But based on data that included minimum payments to the city, gross sales between three dispensaries would net city $2 million a year based on annual sales of $10 million.

That translates to $667,000 per dispensary.

It is likely close to what the city is now receiving with one dispensary.

City Manager Toni Lundgren said that is a significant amount when it comes to income from one source that is equal to just under 0.7 percent of the city’s $87 million general fund to operate day-to-day services.

As such it has allowed the city to plug a hole in sales tax revenue with the relocation of BF Funstein Flooring if new retail growth doesn’t do so.

“That means we don’t need to make cuts,” Lundgren said of city service.

The current budget for the fiscal year that started Wednesday shows projections that anticipate new sales growth to plug that hole and then some.

If that’s the case, the revenue from community benefit agreements can be treated as a reoccurring source of new income.

That means it could be counted on to cover a continuing expense of $150,000 plus for an additional police, go to one-time projects such as sidewalk replacement, or augment other funding such as expanding what the city can do in terms of the scope of pavement upgrades throughout Manteca.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com