Calaveras County To Refund Cannabis Registration Fees

San Andreas, CA — With a 4-1 vote, the Calaveras County Board of Supervisors voted to refund $940,000 in fees collected through a medical marijuana registration program.

Before a ban was placed on commercial cultivation one year ago, the county was collecting $5,000 grower registration fees. This was the second effort to approve the refunds. It requires a 4/5 vote of the board, and this past October it was denied because Supervisor Dennis Mills and former Supervisor Clyde Clapp were in opposition. Mills had requested an independent audit be conducted of the cannabis regulatory program before any refunds be issued. Supervisor Clapp later lost his re-election bid to Benjamin Stopper in November, so Mills no longer had his ally on the matter.

Interim CAO Manuel Lopez recommended approval of the refunds yesterday, and called it, “an important component of closing out the program.”

Supervisors Stopper, Merita Callaway, Jack Garamendi and Gary Tofanelli were in favor, while Mills remained in opposition. He again indicated that he would have preferred to first see an audit of the program.