KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City, Missouri, voters will decide how newly legal recreational marijuana will be taxed in the city.
Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas has high hopes for his proposed tax on recreational marijuana in Missouri.
"This does need to be voted on by the voters of Kansas City in April, but from what I've heard from a lot of folks including those in the marijuana industry itself, they recognize that there's a cost to regulation, there's a cost to enforcement," he said.
The extra three-percent on top of Missouri's six-percent sales tax on recreational marijuana would put money back into neighborhoods though the city's neighborhood services division.
That means more money for code enforcement officers and public works crews.
It's a big deal for people who live and work in the city like Latonya Green.
"I mean that's my number one thing, is the investment back into the community," Green said. "Because that's probably the one thing that always falls through the cracks. We could use some build up, we need these things in our community."
Lucas says the money will go towards items the public asks for frequently.
"Making sure we're applying those funds in ways that people have been clamoring for for years," he said.
It's still just a proposal — waiting for a vote — but it's the first of many the city has planned.
"You'll see Kansas City doing more work," Lucas said. "Not just ordinances with taxation, but ordinances with real marijuana regulation as we roll out what life is like with legal, recreational marijuana."
Green works at a local dispensary, and was an advocate for amendment three. She knows many people were against it regardless of the taxes it could generate.
"Just have an open mind, this could be good for us," she said.
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