Nearly 1½ years after recreational marijuana sales started in Ohio, Greater Akron communities with marijuana dispensaries are finally receiving promised tax revenue from the Ohio Department of Taxation.
State Sen. Steve Huffman, R-Tipp City, announced last week that the revenue was being released to municipalities across Ohio for the first time since legal adult-use marijuana sales started in the state in August 2024. The release of the funds, a result of the December passage of Ohio House Bill 56, followed critiques of the delay by a marijuana business operator and a nonprofit director, among others.
While HB 56 created a mechanism for the state to release the tax revenue, the percentage of revenue earmarked for the state to send to communities remains the same as what was outlined in Issue 2, the 2023 initiated statute legalizing adult-use marijuana in Ohio.
Ohio municipalities are receiving 36% of the 10% excise tax that is tacked onto dispensary sales within their borders.
The city of Akron received about $823,000 for adult-use marijuana sales that took place in the city between August 2024 and November 2025, city Finance Director Steve Fricker said.
The money will go into the city’s general fund, Fricker said.
Three dispensaries operate in the city, according to a state license portal.
The city of Cuyahoga Falls received $448,476.33 in adult-use marijuana tax disbursements, city spokeswoman Carrie Snyder said via email. Cuyahoga Falls has two operating dispensaries, per the state license portal.
Tallmadge received $87.19 for the month of November, city spokeswoman Andrea Kidder said via email.
Tallmadge has two operating dispensaries, the license portal said. Pure Ohio Wellness opened a dispensary in Tallmadge in late October. Culture Retail Partners of Ohio received its certificate of operation for its Tallmadge dispensary in November, Ohio Division of Cannabis Control spokesman Jamie Crawford said via email.
The Beacon Journal emailed the village of Northfield’s law director to request a tax disbursement figure but did not receive a response by deadline. The village has one operating dispensary, per the license portal; the store opened in August.
Ohio Department of Taxation spokeswoman Andrea Lannom said via email Jan. 16 that the department noticed an issue with distribution affecting 17 out of 100 municipalities, which is why the department did not yet have a distribution report on its website. She declined to share whether there were any issues with distribution in Summit County.
“This issue stems from how dispensaries provided their associated municipal information during the initial licensing process,” Lannom said. “Our office is actively working with the impacted municipalities to correct these distributions and to ensure the appropriate adjustments are made.
“We remain committed to working collaboratively with our partner agencies and local governments to resolve this matter and to ensure revenue distributions are accurate and timely going forward and hope to have the distribution report available on the website by Wednesday.”
The city of Akron previously estimated that it would receive about $1 million in marijuana tax revenue for 2024 and 2025 dispensary sales, said city spokeswoman Stephanie Marsh.
The estimate was based on state forecasts for collections and the estimate that Akron had about 5% of the legal adult-use dispensaries in the state, Fricker said.
The city of Akron does not anticipate more than $1 million in tax revenues for 2026, Fricker said.
“I don’t think we’re going to get that much, based on what we just got,” he said.
He added that he is awaiting a tax disbursement breakdown from the state to see trends in the historical data, which the city will use to make a projection of 2026 tax revenue.
Marsh said it is possible that more adult-use dispensaries could open in Akron this year, which would add to tax revenues for the city.
At least two marijuana businesses have received conditional-use permits from Akron City Council to open dispensaries, but those dispensaries have not yet begun operations. Conditional-use permits for at least another two dispensary plans are on City Council’s agenda but have yet to be voted on by council.
Patrick Williams covers growth and development for the Akron Beacon Journal. He can be reached by email at pwilliams@gannett.com or on X @pwilliamsOH. Sign up for the Beacon Journal’s business and consumer newsletter, “What’s The Deal?“