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Board extends Measure S payment deadline to Dec. 31, sets earlier deadline for non-payers
Summary
After weeks of public comment and staff briefings, the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors extended payment deadlines for Measure S cultivation taxes to Dec. 31, 2025 for permit holders who entered payment plans; permit holders who never entered payment plans were given until April 3 to initiate payment plans or face revocation.
After a multi-hour discussion and extensive public comment from cultivators, County staff and trade groups, the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors voted to extend the county taxes tied to licensed cannabis cultivation to Dec. 31, 2025 for permit holders who have entered payment plans and demonstrated a continuing payment effort, but required permit holders who did not enter any payment plan to act immediately or face revocation.
What the board decided
- Extension for payers: The board extended the deadline for payment of outstanding Measure S cultivation taxes to December 31, 2025 for permit holders who have an active payment plan or who have otherwise demonstrated good-faith payments and compliance steps. The extension is intended to let farmers complete a cultivation season, harvest, dry and sell product to meet obligations.
- Deadline for non-payers: For the 210 permits identified by county staff as having not started any payment plan and currently suspended, the board set a short deadline: those permit holders must contact the Treasurer-Tax Collector and Planning & Building to initiate a payment plan and begin payments by April 3, 2025 (the board noted the county offices were closed for a holiday the earlier week). If permit holders do not initiate payments by the April 3 deadline, the county will proceed with the revocation process for those permits.
Counts and background figures provided by staff
- Total active cultivation permits identified: 1,861 (staff noted that after excluding 210 that did not enter payment plans, the active-permit count in some places was described as 1,651).
- Permits with no outstanding Measure S tax on record: 1,228.
- Permits that entered into payment plans: 423 (29 of those plans are already paid off). Staff provided a breakdown of how many payments different permit holders had made in the payment plans: 26 had made no payments after entering a plan, 295 made a single payment, 48 made 2-5 payments, 11 made 6-9 payments, and 15 made more than 10 payments.
Why the board acted
County staff proposed the extension after hearing from farmers and considering projects and compliance costs (for example, culvert and road improvements required by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife). Board members said they were weighing fairness to the majority of permit holders who had paid in full against the hardships of farmers who said they were unable to pay due to market collapse, unpaid product sales and other financial shocks.
Public comment
More than two dozen speakers, including cultivators, real estate professionals and industry advocates, told the board about lost sales, unpaid invoices from distributors, and grant award reversals that left them unable to pay their tax obligations. Several speakers asked for a yearlong extension to allow harvest and sales to fund tax payments; staff had suggested a September 30 extension or a December 31 extension to allow a cultivation season to finish. Trade groups said the county should also consider structural fixes to Measure S in the long term.
Vote
The board approved the motion 4-1. The motion set a Dec. 31, 2025 deadline for permit holders already on payment plans and an April 3, 2025 administrative deadline to move the currently suspended 210 permits into a payment plan in order to avoid revocation.
What the decision means and next steps
- For permit holders already working with the Treasurer-Tax Collector: The extension gives additional time to pay outstanding balances, but staff emphasized the extension is final and the county intends to apply the December 31 deadline.
- For suspended permit holders who have not engaged: The county will proceed with administrative suspension and, if the April 3 deadline is missed, will begin formal revocation procedures.
- County staff also said it will return with a separate agenda item to review Measure S itself and options for any longer-term structural changes.
Ending: The board balanced fairness and enforcement: an extended timetable for those who engaged and a short, firm deadline for those who have not engaged with the county's payment process.
