The residents of Ventura, California will vote in November 2020 on whether or not the city will allow cannabis business and which taxes will be set in place. On Monday night, the Ventura City Council voted 7-0 to put a cannabis tax measure onto the November ballot establishing the city-level taxation. After, a 5-2 vote states that if the cannabis tax measures get approved, the city will issue licenses in cannabis retail, cannabis distribution and cannabis testing labs.

If and when these measures pass, the city of Ventura will become the fifth city in the county to allow forms of cannabis businesses.

In Ventura, the population is relatively accepting of legal marijuana — 60 percent of city voters approved Proposition 64 in 2016, which legalized non-medical marijuana in California, more than the percentage who voted for it statewide or countywide.

At the dispensaries in Ojai and Port Hueneme, about 14 percent of the customers have Ventura addresses, said David McPherson of HdL Companies, a consultant to the city on cannabis regulations.

Ventura City Council has declined to allow any cannabis businesses to operate in the city except for state licensed cannabis delivery retailers. The city has not yet licensed any retailers to deliver in the city limits.

“I don’t see any reason why we don’t put this on the ballot,” Mayor Matt LaVere said. “We see where society is going. There’s going to be a council in the very near future, if it’s not this council, that votes to allow some part of the cannabis industry, and I want to give that council a head start and make sure there’s a tax in place.”

In other Ventura County cities, cannabis taxes have passed easily. Both Thousand Oaks and Oxnard had nearly 80% approval rate of the vote. Like every city in California, the cities in Ventura County have put a cap on the amount of licenses they allow to distribute as well as city buffers from schools and parks. The council says they favor similar city cannabis regulations, but the official rules will be put into place after the November 2020 vote.

The proposed tax rate is also to be decided. If the city accepts an average of around 30% in taxation, the city could see revenue over one million dollars depending on what form of cannabis businesses they allow. With over 30% in taxation, consumers then move to purchase products from the black market.

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