Memorandum
Date: January 9, 2024
To: The Honorable Lake County Board of Supervisors
From: Susan Parker, County Administrative Officer
Casey Moreno, Deputy County Administrative Officer
Subject: Presentation and Overview of the Cannabis Equity Program (CEG)
Executive Summary:
On February 5, 2020, the County of Lake entered into a grant agreement with the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development for Type 1 funding in the amount of $150,000 for the purpose of developing its Local Equity Program. The county has received 3 grant awards of Type 2 funding for the purpose of assisting Local Equity Applicants successfully operate in the states regulated cannabis marketplace.
The Cannabis Equity Funding has been used to pay county owed taxes and fees which are not directly collected from any other source. To date, the county's Cannabis Equity Program has paid $1,429,969.83 in canopy taxes and $42,328.85 in permitting fees.
The county did not apply for the most recent round of Type 2 funding for two reasons. First due to the changes in the qualifiers of recipients, the county would need to completely rework the program assessment. Second, the county would not qualify because at least 50% of the grant funding was not spent in the past 12 months.
The county currently has $836,678.29 which will need to be spent by October 31, 2024 or sent back to the state. At this time, staff are not planning on continuing the Cannabis Equity Program as it would require a complete rework of the program.
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