Fall River could earn $450K per year from pot shops

FALL RIVER — Excluding tax revenue and gross revenue payments, the city is poised to net as much as $450,000 annually if the state approves all 10 of the marijuana businesses wanting to open in Fall River.

Thus far, 10 different companies have received the local approval needed to open. They include at least seven possible dispensaries and three that are currently only asking to open facilities that grow and process marijuana.

Built into each host community agreement, which outlines financial compensations each business will make to the city, is a stipulation that each applicant will pay the city 3 percent of its annual gross revenues every year for recreational dispensaries and a 4 percent fee for other businesses. The city has yet to determine the exact amount of revenue this will bring into Fall River, since the host agreements do not include revenue projections.

The city had originally negotiated host agreements that would have provided payments for 4 percent of gross sales revenue across the board, but were subsequently advised by state officials to lower it to the 3 percent outlined under state law for recreational dispensaries.

Each business is also subject to a 3 percent sales tax allowed by the state, but it is difficult to predict how much money that will bring in until sales actually start.

What can be determined is the amount of money each company has agreed to pay the city annually as a contribution separate from its gross sales revenue payment.

For eight of the 10 applicants, the city will receive an annual payment of $50,000. Due to its size, the dispensary Greener Leaf is only obligated to make a payment of $25,000. However, if Greener Leaf later expands its dispensary sales area beyond 1,500 square feet, annual payments will increase to the same $50,000 every other company has agreed to.

Northeast Alternatives, at 999 William S. Canning Blvd, is the only business so far approved by the state’s Cannabis Control Commission for recreational sales. That business operates a dispensary that also cultivates and processes marijuana on site.

Hope Heal Health, which operates a dispensary and cultivation facility at 1 West St., and Xiphias Wellness, which grows and sells marijuana at 482 Globe St., have both been approved by the state to conduct medical marijuana sales and are both already doing so in Fall River. They have both applied to expand into recreational sales and are awaiting a decision by the Cannabis Control Commission.

Greener Leaf Inc., which plans to open a registered marijuana dispensary at 95 Rhode Island Ave., has not applied to conduct medical sales but is awaiting state approval to begin recreational sales.

The Haven Center, which plans on opening a dispensary at 1435 Pleasant St., The Giving Tree Health Center, which plans to open a dispensary at 847 Pleasant St., and Cannatech Medicinals, which has built facilities on Hartwell Street and Innovation Way to grow and sell marijuana, have all been approved to open locally and are awaiting state approval.

Agricultural Healing is only planning to build a facility for growing and processing marijuana at 1 Lewiston St., according to its host agreement. Loop Cultivation Partners and Premium Chef Edibles, which have the same owners, both received approval from the city to grow, cultivate and process marijuana at a facility at 565 Commerce Drive.

Though Agricultural Healing, Loop Cultivation Partners, and Premium Chef Edibles have all received the local approval they need to open, city Corporation Counsel Joseph Macy said none of these three companies have yet to file any application with the state.

Email Peter Jasinski at pjasinski@heraldnews.com.