The Wright City Board of Aldermen passed a resolution asking voters to approve a 3% sales tax on adult-use marijuana sold in Wright City.
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The Wright City Board of Aldermen passed a resolution asking voters to approve a 3% sales tax on adult-use marijuana sold in Wright City.
Wright City does not currently have a marijuana facility in the city limits, but aldermen said they wanted to be prepared in the event that one would open.
“Our thought process is in the event one would land here, we’d rather have everything already laid out for what the expectation would be from their perspective and ours,” said Mayor Michelle Heiliger.
Adult use marijuana sales were legalized in 2022 when voters approved a constitutional amendment to allow for the sale and recreational use of the drug. That amendment also allowed local municipalities to assess sales taxes on retail sales of marijuana, although there have been some recent legal challenges to those taxes after St. Louis County and Florissant attempted to stack their taxes on sales within the city limits.
According to the Missouri Independent the Eastern District of Appeals Court in Missouri ruled that municipalities cannot stack taxes on marijuana sales meaning counties can only assess sales tax on marijuana sales in unincorporated areas and cities only within their limits.
Currently there is only one licensed dispensary in Warren County, Proper Cannabis, located on Highway 47 in Warrenton.
Warrenton does impose a three percent sales tax on adult use marijuana sales and the county has a separate six percent sales tax as well.
Marthasville also passed a three percent sales tax on marijuana sales during the April 2024 election.
Heiliger said she did not expect any issues with the county’s tax and that to her knowledge there are no dispensaries that have expressed interest in moving to Wright City.
She said the city simply wanted to be proactive in case a business owner decides to open a dispensary in the future.
She also clarified that per the ordinance, the tax would only apply to retail sales of marijuana for adult-use at dispensaries and would not cover medical sales or any costs associated with growing or processing facilities.
There are not currently any marijuana growing or processing facilities in Warren County.
If passed, the ballot measure would take effect on Oct. 1.
