Wickliffe council asks law director to create cannabis-revenue line item in general fund

WICKLIFFE, Ohio — The Wickliffe City Council voted to authorize the law director to draft legislation establishing a general-fund line item to collect revenue from city cannabis sales, the council said at its April 28 meeting.

The council moved after the Finance Committee reported a recommendation that the city follow guidance from the Auditor of State and set up a separate budget line to record cannabis sales tax revenue. Finance Director Hunter told the committee the Auditor of State “recommends legislation to set up a line item in our budget for the revenue collected from the tax on sales of cannabis in the city. She recommends that the line item be in our general fund.”

The Finance Committee discussed several technical questions before forwarding the proposal, including whether the city would receive 20% or another share of the tax and whether revenue collection would be retroactive to the date cannabis sales first became legal. Hunter said the committee’s understanding was that the 20% figure was the most recent estimate and that any revenue collected would be retroactive.

The committee recommended that the law director draft the ordinance to create the line item; the council later moved to authorize that drafting. The motion to authorize the law director to draft the legislation was moved by Councilman Levon and seconded by a council member during the meeting record; the motion was approved in a roll-call vote recorded on the meeting record.

The action directs staff to bring formal legislation back to council for consideration; no new spending or appropriation was approved at the April 28 meeting.