MARIJUNA FUNDS DISTRIBUTED TO BERRIEN COUNTY

By DEBRA HAIGHT
BCR Correspondent
BUCHANAN – The state of Michigan has released the latest marijuana revenue numbers for the 2024 year, detailing how much money has been distributed to counties and municipalities around the state. That news comes at the same time Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has proposed placing more taxes on marijuana businesses to help fund road repairs.
“Starting this week, my team will begin to distribute adult-use marijuana payments to Michigan’s local units of government and tribal partners,” State Treasurer Rachael Eubanks said.
She noted that the dollars received from the adult-use marijuana taxes and fees go toward schools, roads and back into Michigan’s neighborhoods. Local entities and tribes can spend these dollars however they deem fit for their needs.
The Michigan Department of Treasury reported last week that nearly $100 million is being distributed to 302 entities as part of the Michigan Regulation and Taxation of Marijuana Act, including:

• 108 Cities
• 36 Villages
• 80 Townships
• 74 Counties
• 4 Tribes

Each eligible municipality, county and tribe will receive more than $58,200 for each licensed retail store and microbusiness within its jurisdiction. For the 2024 state fiscal year, there was more than $331 million available for distribution from the state’s Marihuana Regulation Fund. Revenue from the state’s 10% adult-use marijuana excise tax and other fees go into the fund. An additional $116 million was sent to the School Aid Fund for K-12 education and another $116 million to the Michigan Transportation Fund.
In Berrien County, cities receiving marijuana revenue include Buchanan, Niles and Benton Harbor, the villages of Eau Claire and Three Oaks and the townships of New Buffalo and Watervliet.

• Buchanan will receive $349,371.96 for 6 licensed businesses
• Niles will receive $407,700.62 for 7 licensed businesses
• Benton Harbor will receive $232,914.64 for 4 licensed businesses
• Eau Claire will receive $58,228.66 for 1 licensed business
• Three Oaks will receive and $58,228.66 for 1 licensed business
• New Buffalo Township will receive $349,371.96 for 6 licensed businesses
• Watervliet Township will receive $116,457.32 for 2 licensed businesses

More details are available on the website. Each community has made their own decisions on how to spend their marijuana revenue. In Buchanan, the emphasis in the past has been on using the funds for redevelopment projects, park improvements and the downtown.
Gov. Whitmer proposed a $3 billion Michigan Road Ahead plan to fund road repairs that would increase taxes on the marijuana industry and large corporations. Whitmer ran on a “Fix the Damn Roads” campaign promise 7 years ago but has done little to actually fix the roads.
Her plan would raise taxes on big businesses by $1.6 billion and then place a new wholesale tax on marijuana to raise another $470 million. She would also cut about $500,000 in spending to pay for the proposal.
According to Bridge Michigan, representatives of the state’s cannabis industry are raising alarms about the proposal, claiming it may put some marijuana retailers out of business. As they describe it, the Whitmer plan would add a 32% wholesale tax on marijuana on top of the current 10 percent excise tax and six percent sales tax.
Despite her claims that the state’s marijuana industry pays the fourth lowest taxes in the nation, cannabis industry representatives say their industry is already struggling and higher costs passed down to retailers and consumers would only have more people turn to the black market for their marijuana.
They say that there is already an oversaturated marijuana market, noting that the number of marijuana retailers in the state has almost doubled since 2021, from 432 to 850. That has driven the price of marijuana down with some growers not able to recoup their costs.
Michigan marijuana businesses have also been hurt by decisions by some neighboring states such as Illinois and Ohio to allow recreational marijuana.
Republicans who now control the State House have published their own alternative road funding proposal, which would not raise taxes. The Republican plan would pull $1 billion from subsidy programs, $600 from the general fund, $500 million from legislative earmarks and $500 from the corporate attraction fund. It would also dedicate all gas taxes to fixing the roads, which would bring in another $945 million each year.