Voters will decide Nov. 3 whether San Joaquin County will impose taxes on the commercial sale and cultivation of marijuana in areas outside of city limits should the Board of Supervisors adopt an ordinance allowing such ventures to take place.
Measure X will initially impose a 3.5 percent tax on annual gross receipts of such cannabis businesses if they are allowed. The supervisors would have the power to take the annual tax rate as high as 8 percent. Supervisors are also the ones that have the power to make commercial marijuana operations legal in the unincorporated areas of San Joaquin County.

Manteca, Ripon, and Lathrop as well as other cities as state law now stands can determine if commercial marijuana ventures are allowed within their jurisdictions. All cities within San Joaquin County have banned commercial cannabis operations.

In addition if the county allows commercial cultivation Measure X would impose an annual $2 per square foot tax for licensed cultivation space.

Such as tax would require a two thirds approval. It would go into effect Jan. 1, 2021 if passed.

The taxes would be restricted under Measure X and placed in a special fund. It requires 50 percent of proceeds to be placed in a Children’s Trust Fund and used only for early childhood education and other programs that benefit youth and children. The other 50 percent will be used for services that promote public health, homeless mitigation, and enforcement of cannabis codes.

Voters in November 2018 rejected a similar tax measure. It received a 61.54 percent approval vote, less than 5 percent shy of the two thirds of the vote required to impose a special tax.

Rules San Joaquin County planners considered in April 2019, if adopted, could allow cannabis retail sales within a half mile of Manteca’s eastern city limits. That’s because the plan called for allowing retail pot sales in industrial zones that are outside of the county’s seven incorporated cities.

The closest such industrial zone to Manteca is along South Comconex Road off East Highway 120 just a half mile east of Austin Road that serves as Manteca’s eastern city limits. There are two churches — New Hope Church and Cornerstone Community Church — located along Comconex Road.

The envisioned rules from 2019 would allow a traditional storefront or a non-storefront delivery service to operate in industrial zones.

The county’s plans in 2019 called for allowing cultivation in general agriculture zones as well as industrial park, limited industrial, and general industrial. No outdoor cultivation would be allowed.

 Measure X doesn’t allow marijuana cultivation and sales on a commercial basis. That said several elected officials have declined to support going forward with legal marijuana operations unless they could be taxed for the public good.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com