Leaders in Warrenton are putting a marijuana sales tax proposition on election ballots this spring, overriding objections from two aldermen. 

The Warrenton Board of Aldermen had a majority vote earlier this month to give the tax proposition to voters during municipal elections on April 4. The city is proposing a 3 percent sales tax on recreational marijuana, the maximum local tax allowed by the 2022 state amendment that legalized the drug. The tax would not apply to marijuana products from a licensed medical marijuana dispensary.

The decision to move forward with the tax proposition was split between four aldermen who said voters should decide whether they want the tax, and two aldermen who were opposed to any tax proposition at all. Aldermen Jack Crump, Larry Corder, Scott Schulze, and Gary Miller all approved the proposition, while Aldermen Steven Cullom and Jeff Jaspering voted against it.

“Just for clarification: This is just to put it on the ballot ... not to decide ‘Yes,’ or ‘No,” noted Mayor Eric Schleuter.

City Administrator Brandie Walters said revenue from the marijuana tax would go into Warrenton’s general operating fund that pays for most of the city’s services.

Complicating the question for voters is the fact that the county government is also seeking approval for its own marijuana sales tax, also at 3 percent. And all of that is on top of normal sales tax charges and also a 6 percent marijuana tax that goes to the state government.

Doing the math, the sales tax on marijuana in Warrenton is going to start at 15.5 percent at the absolute minimum. If one sales tax proposition passes, that rate rises to 18.5 percent, and if both pass, it’s 21.5 percent.

Warrenton currently only has one marijuana-related business that, at the moment, is licensed as a medical dispensary.