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Board accepts community equity grant and directs staff to prioritize Measure S tax relief
Summary
Board accepted a Community Equity Grant award and directed staff to modify the local equity program to prioritize Measure S tax obligations and property taxes, asking staff to pursue future funding carefully given administrative costs.
The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors on April 15 authorized acceptance of the most recent Community Equity Grant (CEG) award for Project Trellis and directed staff to modify the county’s local equity program so that available CEG funds prioritize Measure S cultivation tax obligations and, where applicable, property taxes.
Economic development staff said the latest award is roughly $657,000 with a local-match requirement (the county contributes matching funds). Office of Economic Development interim program manager Peggy Murphy told the board that previous rounds generated hundreds of applications and that staff have already spent most of the grant funds from prior rounds processing and contracting awards.
Murphy and Economic Development staff reported that across recent rounds the county received about 433 applications and funded roughly 132 awards to date. The program has supported a mix of items the county’s LEP manual authorized: business build-outs, equipment, operational support and, following a recent board decision, reimbursement for Measure S cultivation tax obligations and certain planning and building fees. Murphy cautioned that running multiple rounds of small grants imposes heavy administrative work; the state CEG program allows a percentage for administration but shorter grant performance windows and audit rules have increased county workload.
County Chief Administrative Officer Brad Hayes told the board that continuing to operate the program will likely require additional general‑fund support for administration if the board wants staff to sustain another application and contracting cycle: “it is very likely we will come to you and ask for a general fund allocation of more like $150,000,” he said, to avoid draining the economic development division’s operating budget.
Public comment included support from local cannabis industry advocates who said Project Trellis is one of the few funding streams available to small cultivators and urged continuation. Madeline Dallap of the Humboldt County Growers Alliance told the board: “These are super complicated grants to administer and the state is absolutely not giving enough funding to administer these complicated systems… But that being said, these are the only types of funds that come in that can be accessed by our people.”
After discussion the board approved a motion (3–1 with one absent) to accept the award for FY 2024–25, update the local equity program manual to focus eligible spending on Measure S tax repayment and to allow payments for property taxes where an award covers those obligations, and to work with the county treasurer on payment mechanics. The board also directed staff to be cautious about committing further county match funds and to return if additional general fund support is required to sustain future rounds.
Staff said the change will allow the county to route grant dollars quickly to reduce cultivation tax liabilities that threaten some small operators’ continued business viability. The board asked staff to use the existing applicant queue from the most recent round, to prioritize past-due Measure S obligations and then current Measure S payments, and to return with a revised manual and detailed administrative cost estimate for any future funding cycle.
