Marijuana regulation funding on its way to four county municipalities including Sturgis and Three Rivers

St. Joseph County will receive $881,000 from the Marijuana Regulation Fund over the next few days, the state’s Department of Treasury announced Tuesday. 

According to a Michigan Department of Treasury press release issued on February 28, eligible municipalities will receive more than $51,800 for every licensed recreational marijuana retail store and micro-business within its jurisdiction. The funds are part of Michigan’s Regulation and Taxation of Marijuana Act, and municipalities and counties should begin to see payments appear over the next few days.

Burr Oak, Constantine, Sturgis, and Three Rivers are the four St. Joseph County cities receiving recreational marijuana funding. Burr Oak has one license, The Green Door, and will be awarded $51,800. Constantine and Three Rivers have four licensed businesses each, and will both receive $207,000 in funds. Three Rivers Mayor Tom Lowry told Watershed Voice there are no immediate plans for this money. “It’ll just go into the general fund and then we’ll decide from there,” he said. “We didn’t have any preset plans what to do with it yet — partly because we didn’t know how much it would be.”

Sturgis has eight licenses and will receive $415,000. Sturgis Mayor Jeff Mullins told Watershed Voice his desire is to allocate all future marijuana excise tax capture for specific projects such as  a splash pad, pickle ball courts, and lead service lines. “I think we should also consider our newly established ambulance service as well,” said Mullins. “We will be discussing an allocation plan at our budget work session in June for the upcoming fiscal year.”

Eighty-one cities in Michigan will receive payments from the Marijuana Regulation Fund over the next few days. The full list of what each municipality will receive is available online. Full information regarding revenue sharing is available online at michigan.gov/RevenueSharing.

Beca Welty is a staff writer and columnist for Watershed Voice.