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Cannabis store licensing reviewed by Powell River City Council

First reading given to amendment bylaw to reduce annual fees
Paul Galinski
Paul Galinski
2502_cannabis_opinion
ADJUSTMENT RECOMMENDED: City of Powell River Council gave first reading to a business license amendment bylaw to reduce annual licensing fees from $2,000, to the formula that governs other local businesses, calculated on the store’s operational footprint and number of employees. This adjustment would result in cannabis retail businesses paying from $180 to $300 a year for their business licences. Peak archive photo

City of Powell River Council has given first reading for an amendment to the city’s business licence bylaw to adjust fees for cannabis businesses.

At the September 12 city council meeting, councillors heard from director of planning services Jason Gow, who said the purpose of his report to council was to consider issuing notice and giving first reading to the city’s business licence bylaw. He said the amendment to the bylaw proposed reducing business licence fees for retail recreational cannabis stores.

“Going back to March of this year, staff were directed to report back to council and make some recommendations to reduce business licence fees charged to retail recreational cannabis stores in Powell River,” said Gow. “I am here today to make that recommendation. The draft bylaw that is before you proposes licence fees for recreational retail cannabis stores be amended to align with business licence fees for any other retail business. The annual licensing fee would then be calculated on a store’s operational footprint and number of employees, as opposed to a flat rate of $2,000 per year.

“Staff anticipate that most cannabis retail stores will pay either $180 or $300 annually for their licence.”

Gow said staff was also recommending that the one-time fee for new cannabis store applications continue to be $2,000. He said the intent of this is to cover the cost of upfront expenditures related to public notification and recommendations to the liquor and cannabis regulation branch.

Gow added that there are some financial impacts to reducing the licensing fees for cannabis stores. He said a reduced business licence fee charged to cannabis stores would result in a decrease of business licence revenue. He said using the example from 2023, the city issued six licences to cannabis retail stores for a total of $12,000 in revenue.

“Should the city move forward with readings to the proposed bylaw and ultimately, adoption, annual revenues associated with retail cannabis stories will be reduced by $10,920 to a total of $1,080 from these businesses,” said Gow. “Cannabis retail store revenue represents just four per cent of total business licence fees charged in 2023, so the overall financial impact is modest, representing the equivalent of a .05 per cent increase to property taxes.”

Gow said a lot of communities have higher fees for cannabis retail store business licensing, but a number have moved away from the initial high licensing fees seen in 2018. Some communities use cannabis stores to bolster their business licensing programs, but the question posed by a delegation earlier this year was to be more fair, and that’s something for council to consider, he added.

“It’s appropriate for council to consider a reduction at this time,” said Gow.

Council passed first reading of the draft business licence amendment bylaw.

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