New Mexico Watches as Marijuana Improves Colorado Border Towns

Revenue from eight recreational marijuana businesses along the Colorado/New Mexico border is helping to pave streets and fix buildings in Trinidad, Colorado. The revenue brought in from marijuana taxes has almost doubled the municipal budget.

Colorado may stand to lose some tax revenue as bordering states adopt marijuana legislation, according to Santa Fe New Mexican. New Mexico medical marijuana suppliers pay attention to what is going on in Colorado in the event that recreational legalization becomes reality. They see Trinidad, Colorado as an example of how marijuana tax dollars can turn a local economy around almost overnight.

Trinidad Town Economic Development Director, Jonathan Taylor said, “We’ve stopped hemorrhaging. Cannabis is providing much needed revenue. We’ve taken an economically conservative approach. In three to five years, we’ll be able to factor in what is a typical average. That might go into the budget.”

In 2015, $996 million in marijuana sales in Colorado generated $135 million in tax dollars.

The marijuana industry is creating jobs, fixing economies, helping with revitalizing roads and housing and providing ailing communities with bigger budgets to make these improvements.

De Beque, Colorado town administrator, Lance Stewart said, “We would like to see jobs be created here from other industry sectors, but the reality is that, that is probably just not going to happen. We feel that it will be sustainable at probably the levels we’re currently at or maybe slightly higher. But I, like some other administrators, are not depending on this to be a growing source.”

Colorado’s marijuana legislation allows municipalities to opt-out of allowing any part of the marijuana industry from operating within them. Of the 272 municipalities in Colorado, 189 have prohibited sales of marijuana, so not all communities are seeing the benefits of tax revenue from marijuana sales.