Currently in Rhinelander
Reporter
(WJFW) – For the last four years Ean Bruette, the Commissioner of Iron County in the Upper Peninsula, has been able to improve their infrastructure. The county has received increased tax revenue from recreational use of marijuana becoming legal in Michigan.
Bruette said “I think the marijuana tax revenue has allowed us to do things that we would’ve liked to do but we just didn’t have the money for it.”
Michigan imposed a 24% wholesale tax this year on marijuana, with the tax money going towards roads and bridge repair across the state.
Michigan counties also receive more than $54,000 a year for each open dispensary in the area. For example, Iron county has seven, meaning last fiscal year they received more than $378,000 from the Regulation and Taxation of Marihuana Act. Which they used to add a security guard to the courthouse among other things.
“It doesn’t matter how profitable it’s equally distributed through all the dispensaries in the whole state.” said Bruette.
Bruette however says he’s surprised that Wisconsin hasn’t made marijuana legal with the extra money it can bring to smaller counties with limited funds like bordering Florence County.
Florence county chairman Chad Hedmark says that he would be in support of any bill or law that brings in more funding for his county. But with Florence County only having a population of around 4,000 people, he doesn’t know if enough dispensaries would even open in the area to make a big difference.
Hedmark said “A lot of times this money has so much restriction on it, effectively a small county can’t really spend it, because we can’t create a big program. I wouldn’t want to see something like that to where you can only spend it on sidewalk repair or something.”
Hedmark says he’d have to see the model that the state would give before being fully on board, if that ever were to happen. Bruette says he understands why some people are against the legalization of marijuana but believes the benefits are greater than the negatives.
“You don’t know what you’re getting if you buy it from some guys off the street. Where in Michigan people trust 100%, they go to the dispensary and they’re getting a quality product that’s been regulated and monitored and you’re not gonna get anything shady or dangerous.” Bruette said.
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Currently in Rhinelander
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