UPPER PENINSULA, Mich. (WLUC) – Hundreds of thousands of dollars will soon be given to U.P. communities and it is all from cannabis users and the tax they pay at Michigan shops.
The city of Ironwood wants to use its 2024 marijuana tax revenue to establish walking paths and sidewalks in the city’s most populated neighborhood. It falls between US-2 and downtown Ironwood on the north and south sides and then between Hemlock and Greenbush Streets for west and east borders.
“These are areas that are walking corridors for kids to get to school, walking corridors to get to the downtown from the neighborhood,” Ironwood Community Development Director Tom Bergman said.
For each cannabis dispensary, the municipality, county or tribe gets $58,000. The number of marijuana dispensaries in Ironwood grew from two in 2023 to five in 2024. That means the city’s marijuana revenue increased from $118,000 to $291,000.
“It’s somewhat still a little bit of a controversial industry in our community,” Bergman said. “Having this revenue source that’s associated with it and then the city of Ironwood making an effort to improve our community with those resources, I think is really important.”
Gogebic County, which gets the same amount as Ironwood, knows exactly where the unexpected windfall will go.
“That line item did come in higher than budgeted, so that amount will offset our expenditures,” Gogebic County Administrator Juliane Giackino said. “The general cost of utilities and just operating the courthouse and the jail has gone up quite a bit.”
The city of Menominee will use its cannabis revenue increase to offset a budget shortfall.
“The city of Menominee’s revenue shortfall was about a half a million dollars,” Menominee Mayor Casey Hoffman said. “So, this money goes a long way towards seriously balancing the budget.”
Menominee’s dispensaries increased from five in 2023 to seven in 2024. The city’s tax revenue went from $295,000 to $408,000, and this is the same for Menominee County.
For all marijuana revenues collected in the state in 2023, click here, and for 2024, click here.
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