Pot Tax Shortfall Impacts Mountain Communities
SUMMIT COUNTY, Colo. (CBS4)- A mistake in Colorado's new pot tax law is costing several organizations millions of dollars, including those in the mountain communities that were counting on that money.
Summit County is a place where affordable housing is nearly impossible to find and every dollar to subsidize housing counts.
"Every dollar does count," said said Summit County Combined Housing Authority spokesman Jason Dietz. "We are moving forward, we have a lot of projects in the works with our jurisdictions."
The Summit County Housing Authority is just one organization across Colorado missing out on some sales tax on recreational marijuana that they were promised.
"The special districts out in my neck of the woods, out on the Western Slope, are small.
They don't have the kinds of budgets or the kind of money. These are board members who are volunteers, who work all day and then go to the board meeting, who go over that budget with a fine-toothed comb and there's not a penny to spare," said Rep. Diane Mitch Bush, a Democrat representing Steamboat Springs.
In July, those pot taxes slated for Summit County added up to about $11,000. That means new housing projects and resources for people desperate to find a home will have to be reevaluated.