T'dad Talk - July 30, 2020

Today, cannabis sales soar locally despite COVID-19 concerns and city council discusses potential uses of the tax revenues from cannabis sales. In the nation, Democrats and Republicans agree another round of stimulus checks should be given.

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Transcript

A slight chance of showers and thunderstorms today as we move into the afternoon and evening with highs in the mid 80s for most of the southeast Colorado region. Tonight, we’ll drop to lows in the mid 50s. 

For Friday, chance of rain gets a little higher with highs hovering around 80 degrees.

Now, the news.

Published this month, Colorado Department of Revenue (CDOR) posted Colorado cannabis taxes, license, and fee revenue collected from February 2014, when pot sales began being recorded, to current as of July 2020. In total, during that time the state brought in $1,375,145,032. Additionally, overall sales in the state during the same time came to $8,567,179,368.

Taxes and tourism generated from the cannabis industry have helped the state undertake numerous improvement projects. Trinidad, specifically, was able not only to recover from the last economic recession back in 2008, but also be more prepared to tackle challenges such as the current pandemic. Earlier this year, City Council in Trinidad were able to set aside half a million that was used to help local businesses and residents; all money coming from tax revenues generated by the local cannabis industry.

Even with health concerns surrounding COVID-19 and travel, Las Animas was still able to pull in $6,559,828 in retail recreational sales and $47,156 in medical sales for the month of May alone. In 2019, the county reported $4,197,971 in retail sales and $64,389 in medical marijuana sales.

This June, the county collected a little under one million dollars in state retail marijuana sales tax ($920,234) according to CDOR numbers on their website, compared with $555,812 in sales tax for June of last year (2019).

In fact, the trend throughout the state is quickly climbing sales with numbers taking a jump around March, as shown in the accompanying graph illustrating sales starting in January of 2014. 

While the reason as to why the numbers spiked so suddenly is still uncertain, cercumstances being what they are has led some store owners to speculate people are ‘panic buying’ or stocking up before the shutdown happened. Now, facing a rise in COVID-19 numbers across the state, could this trigger another round of high sales?

Along the same lines, happening during Trinidad City Council’s last work session on Monday, council and staff discussed potential marijuana sales tax allocations for the second quarter of 2020. 

Economic Coordinator Wally Wallace gave a brief update on the Space to Create Commons Area, an area of the Artspace project managed by the city, and said even thought they had a “ways to go” to finish the project in its entirety with a bid of $1.8 million, it would likely be cheaper than originally bid because the work wouldn’t have to be brought in from elsewhere.

City Project Manager Tom Beach was also present for the meeting to provide an update of where Noah’s Ark stood, stating that the organization themselves had $324,000 available for completion.

Councilmember Rusty Goodall expressed he felt it was positive to hear all the work both projects had put in to raising funds and added he thought there might be a potentiality of finishing both projects.

Finance Director Cheryl Navarette said combined, finishing out both Noah’s Ark and phase one of Space to Create would come to a depth of $393,000. 

Before making a solid decision at a council meeting, Rico stated they would have to get the final bids for both projects and then let staff see if the funds were indeed available to get Noah’s Ark and Space to Create Commons wrapped up.

While a majority of the council agreed that this was a great direction to pursue, they reiterated that as a work session, it was only a discussion of the possibilities in front of them and a decision had not yet been solidified.

Happening in the nation, Senate Republicans announced yesterday the Heals Act, that’s an acronym for Health, Economic Assistance Liability Protection & Schools Act). What it is is about a $1 trillion stimulus package proposal following up the Cares Act and is a response to the Heroes Act, which House Democrats passed as a $3 trillion stimulus plan. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and several Republicans senators spoke on the Senate floor yesterday to discuss the proposed legislation, which may be introduced through multiple bills Forbes reported yesterday. 

As expected, Senate Republicans propose a one-time, $1200 stimulus check. As Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin indicated last week, the requirements to receive the second stimulus check will be the same as the first stimulus check under the Cares Act, which was the $2.2 trillion stimulus package back in March. So, he said if you received a first stimulus check, then you would receive a second stimulus check under the Republican plan.

Republicans and Democrats agree that the second stimulus check should be $1,200. However, Democrats have called for $1,200 second stimulus checks for dependents (compared to $500 under the Republicans proposal), up to a maximum of three dependents. Some Democrats also wanted $2,000 a month second stimulus checks. However, Democrats likely will compromise on a one-time stimulus check, rather than monthly stimulus checks.

Happening today, Dr. Ivory Raye will be presenting her Health Talk virtual group chat at 11 a.m. for those curious about staying healthy. To get access to the link, visit their website MountCarmelCenter.org.

If you know of any upcoming events we should be aware of, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us here at the Chronicle News so we can make sure to spread the word!

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This is Cameron Wayne, have a great day!