In the past three years, the City of El Monte has issued licenses to 11 marijuana businesses – retailers, distributors, and cultivators. Just four of them had opened by the end of FY 2023. According to the East Bay Times, they brought in $341,173 in the first year and $1,010,665 in the second. That’s a far cry from the approximate $3,500,000 per year that was initially expected.
City Manager Alma Martinez blames an oversaturated cannabis market and delayed business openings for the underwhelming numbers. Critics fault the city for the way it awards licenses.
The legal market may be producing less than officials had hoped, but the illegal market is becoming a cash cow. With the arm of law enforcement weakened by Prop 64, El Monte has been taking illicit growers to civil court.
The city has filed 62 lawsuits against property owners and tenants of illegal cannabis warehouses. Those cases have brought $1.2 million into city coffers. That’s nearly equivalent to the tax revenue being generated by legal cannabis businesses.
About half of the lawsuits have been settled. The money goes to legal fees, police, and the general fund, according to the city.
In other words, crime pays in El Monte. But taxpayers are the ones reaping the rewards and the offenders are coughing up the cash.
Read more here.