VISTA — Vista officials are hammering out details for an official policy regulating how the city spends millions of dollars in cannabis sales tax revenue each year.
Since 2021 — the city’s first full year of cannabis revenue — Vista has allocated $4 million each year to its general fund. In the same year, the city also set aside around $466,000 annually for specific projects and programs, including funding a sheriff’s deputy, two park rangers and bathroom maintenance.
At the Vista City Council’s Sept. 10 meeting, Councilmember Joe Green proposed a new policy to allocate 65% of cannabis revenue to the general fund with a floor of $4.46 million to maintain previous contributions, 15% for youth and educational scholarships and 20% for one-time projects.
“As the council that has overseen legislation of retail cannabis and the impacts in our city over the past four years, it only makes sense that we come up with a policy that can guide future councils on the most efficient and effective way to allocate these funds for our community,” Green said.
After much discussion, the council also directed the general fund contribution to fund an additional Sheriff’s deputy focused on DUI enforcement. With this addition, two deputy and two park ranger positions will be funded annually using cannabis dollars.
Vista has been a regional leader when it comes to marijuana business. The citizens’ initiative, Measure Z, which passed in 2018, authorized up to 11 recreational marijuana shops in the city and established a 7% tax on all gross sales, and Vista was the first North County city to permit local recreational cannabis dispensaries in 2021.
The city’s cannabis revenue has grown significantly since then, bringing in over $6.9 million total this past fiscal year.
Over the past few years, over $7 million in cannabis revenue have been allocated to youth prevention programs, scholarships, cannabis enforcement operations, park improvements, little libraries, street lighting, performing arts, and other programs.
“We are leading the charge on how to responsibly use the public’s sales tax funds,” said Councilmember Corinna Contreras.
Using the council feedback, city staff will bring back a full policy for adoption at a future meeting, likely in October, according to city spokesman Fred Tracey.
Funding deputies with cannabis money
Much of the council’s discussion about a cannabis revenue policy focused on staffing in the Vista Sheriff’s Department, and whether cannabis funds should be used to support new positions. This was also a point of disagreement among the council in 2021.
Vista Mayor John Franklin proposed allocating 18% of the city’s cannabis revenue toward two new deputy positions in perpetuity to better serve the city and reduce the strain on other deputies.
“We clearly have the money, and I believe community members agree that there would be widespread benefit,” Franklin said.
Sheriff’s Capt. John Boyce of the Vista Station said the force is in desperate need of additional deputies in its traffic unit, especially to handle DUI enforcement. Boyce said the city saw 284 DUI arrests and 162 DUI-related crashes in 2023, with numbers on track to be even higher this year.
However, Vista deputies are often busy with traffic collisions, Boyce said. By having a designated DUI deputy, similar to the model used by Carlsbad Police Department, he hopes to step up enforcement and incentivize people not to drive under the influence.
“Right now, we have a lot of traffic collisions that tie up our deputies’ time, so DUI enforcement is when they have free time,” Boyce said. “We have several deputies here in our traffic division that are waiting for this day, that we would have designated DUI enforcement.”
City Manager John Conley said the total annual cost for a new deputy would be around $420,000. Besides Franklin, council members were initially reluctant to use cannabis funds for this purpose, noting that this revenue is likely to decrease in the coming years as dispensaries pop up in other cities and become less concentrated in Vista.
“If we could, I would like to give you two deputies. I just do not want to do it out of the cannabis funds,” said Councilmember Dan O’Donnell.
Hiring more deputies has been a larger discussion in the city in recent years, and the City Council is currently awaiting more concrete data from the Vista Sheriff’s Department regarding their needs.
However, after hearing about the need for a DUI enforcement officer on Sept. 10, council members said they could be amenable to using cannabis funds for this position. The city will now be tasked with cutting costs elsewhere to cover the approximately $420,000 cost.
“It’s unusual to me to make a decision without knowing what the funding source is,” said Councilmember Katie Melendez. “Part of me feels that I don’t have any concern where the funding comes from, because it is a priority to me, but I do want to practice that fiscal responsibility of knowing where our coins are coming from.”
