Pueblo County Commissioners agreed to appoint an oversight committee to make sure marijuana tax dollars are being spent as planned.
KRDO crews spoke with Pueblo County Commissioner Garrison Ortiz, who says they want to address citizen’s concerns: “We receive the question very frequently in the community, and rightfully so – where do all of our marijuana tax dollars go?”
We went out into the community and, sure enough, heard that same complaint.
Michele Dawson is a regular recreational marijuana user. She says she spends around 60 dollars per week on marijuana taxes. Dawson wants to know why she hasn’t seen those tax dollars at work.
“They don’t have the funding for the teachers. And they’re closing down all of these schools, the roads are damaged, there’s homeless people everywhere. I want to know, where is my money going?” Dawson said.
According to the Pueblo County Website, more than $3 million in marijuana tax money was collected in 2017, and it’s only gone up from there.
“There’s a lot of money that the BOCC is overseeing and we want to make sure the community is part of that process,” said Commissioner Ortiz.
Commissioner Ortiz says the first 50 percent of marijuana excise taxes every year go to a scholarship fund. After that, he says the government is allowed to spend the tax money on capital infrastructure projects.
