Wright City residents will decide whether or not to assess a 3% sales tax on recreational marijuana sales in the city during the April 8 election. 

While there are not currently any state-licensed dispensaries in the city that would be affected by the tax, city officials said they wanted the expectations to be clear should any of those businesses consider moving in. 

Alderman Karey Owens said the board has been approached by developers looking to establish a dispensary in the city and while those opportunities had fallen through, they wanted to be fair to anyone considering opening a business in Wright City. 

“The feeling of the board is it’s only a matter of time so we want to be prepared,” said Owens. “I think one of the things is, doing it now sets those expectations so if a business comes in I would want to know what type of business environment I was walking into.”

Alderman Kim Arbuthnot echoed those sentiments saying they “wanted to get ahead of it” since when they were approached previously those businesses would not have had to assess that tax. 

Mayor Michelle Heiliger also noted it was an opportunity to raise additional revenue for the city since dispensaries often attract visitors from surrounding areas since the licensing on those facilities is very strict and there are few of them in the area. 

“It’s another opportunity for us to bring more revenue into the city. A lot of people who go to dispensaries come from other places other than just the town you live in,” said Heiliger. 

She did concede that the tax could be a deterrent to businesses coming to the city but pointed out there are not many other places a developer could place a dispensary with access to highway frontage and a lack of a sales tax. 

There is only one state-licensed dispensary in Warren County, the Proper Cannabis located in Warrenton. Both Warrenton and Marthasville currently assess the same tax. 

Alderman Ramiz Hakim also pointed out that the Missouri Supreme Court has ruled that municipalities cannot stack sales taxes on recreational marijuana sales and since Warren County also imposes a 3% sales tax it would still be paid by citizens and the city would miss out on the revenue. 

“This just prepares us, just to get ahead of any future issues,” said Hakim. “We don’t have a dispensary right now, in the terms of what a dispensary is for that tax, and in the case anything changes, we’re already set up to have that 3% in there.”

The sales tax would not be assessed on sales of marijuana for medicinal use.