City of Powell River councillors heard an appeal to reduce business licensing fees charged to cannabis stores in the city.
At the March 5 committee of the whole meeting, Debbie Dee, managing partner of Sun Coast Cannabis Shoppe, said there was a 2018 report from staff that suggested other communities were charging $5,000 or $10,000 for licensing fees, so Powell River should charge $2,000.
“There really wasn’t any justification that we could find,” said Dee. “Maybe staff and council of the day thought a lot of resources were going to be used when cannabis was legalized and stores opened, in the form of policing, ambulance and fire. It’s actually very little to nothing. We called police once at our store and that was because staff accidentally hit the panic button.”
Dee said small retailers are struggling and cannabis is no different. She said the local market is saturated with five private stores and one government store.
“It’s not the financial windfall that everyone thought it was going to be,” said Dee. “We have a finite market that we market to.”
Dee said cannabis retailers are paying $2,000 a year for their business licences, whereas Capone’s Cellar liquor store next door to Sun Coast pays $180.
“We just can’t afford $2,000 a year,” said Dee, suggesting moving cannabis stores to the same tier as liquor stores at $180 per year.
City councillor Cindy Elliott said she would be in favour of receiving a staff report to look into this and let councillors know what others are doing and what the city might be able to do about licensing fees.
Councillor George Doubt said he was on council when the matter of cannabis store licensing was discussed and he agreed with what Dee was saying.
“The fears of what might happen and the work that bylaw officers might have to do didn’t come to pass,” said Doubt. “It was basically a punitive fee in the first place to maybe discourage people from opening stores, or to replace costs the city thought might come.”
Doubt made a motion that staff come back with a recommendation to reduce the business licence fees for cannabis operations in the city.
“We should get with the program and get it harmonized with other similar businesses like liquor stores,” said Doubt.
The motion carried unanimously.
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