Local officials fighting for tax money from marijuana dispensaries

OG ARticle

Brandon Jaces

Posted: May 6, 2025 / 10:41 PM EDT

Updated: May 6, 2025 / 10:41 PM EDT

AUSTINTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) — Local officials are continuing to fight for their funds from marijuana dispensaries in their communities.

Austintown Trustees Bruce Shepas and Robert Santos will be speaking on behalf of Austintown and Mahoning County as a whole in Columbus on Wednesday.

Ohio voters legalized recreational marijuana in 2023. According to the ballot language, communities with a dispensary would benefit monetarily.

“A 10% tax that’s divvied up to various departments,” Santos said. “One in particular is 36% to the hosted community. So us is actually going to get a dispensary. So 36% of that tax was supposed to come to us which can range anywhere from $200,000 a year to $700, depending on how well that dispensary does.”

Things changed when House Bill 96 passed reducing the amount communities with dispensaries would get and also adding the stipulation that they would get that for only five years.

“This is just another form of money that we can receive that’s not property tax that will help offset these costs for a certain period of time, and the better it does, the more funds that come down the pipeline,” Santos said. “We’re hoping that the Senate changes their mind, gives that money back to the host community.”

Santos will be going as President of the Mahoning County Township Association, while Shepas will be going to represent Austintown. This will be Santos’ fourth trip to Columbus on the matter and Shepas’ third.

“There’s not many local elected officials to go down, and I think it’s very important for these Senators and State representatives to hear from us, who are down boots on the ground, who are in need, who are struggling, and they need to start understanding that these are the things that we need to be partnered together,” Santos said.