Sales taxes collected by the township’s four functioning cannabis businesses reached more than $200,000 in 2023, according to a Township official.
Township Manager Robert Vornlocker said that the Township earned $201,076 from the four cannabis retailers operating in 2023. Vornlocker estimates that the Township could receive more than $300,000 by the end of 2024.
Cannabis operations pay the Township 2% of their gross receipts. Wholesalers, of which there are now none in the Township, would pay a 1% transfer tax on each transaction. The fee plan was established by the Township Council in the 2021 law that allows marijuana licenses in Franklin.
The $201,000 total indicates a $10 million cannabis sector in the township, which includes four dispensaries that have not been operational for a full year.
The four cannabis dispensaries that opened in 2023 were BLOC – Somerset and Leaf Haus on Easton Avenue, Unity Road on Elizabeth Avenue, and Silver Leaf on Route 27.
Silver Leaf was the only medical-only dispensary open last year, thus its revenue was slightly lower than that of the other three, according to Vornlocker.
Another dispensary, Theos, has opened on Route 27, and Vince Dominach, the Township’s Economic Development Director, confirmed via an email that “there are others in various stages of tenant fit-outs.”
According to Vornlocker, none of the dispensaries that paid sales taxes in 2023 remained open the entire year; two were open for two quarters and two for three quarters.
Vornlocker said it was “tough to say” what the Township could expect in sales tax revenue in 2024, but he did provide a bet.
“Depends on how many new dispensaries open, when they open, and what impact they have on existing dispensaries,” he replied in a reply to a question. “One of the four present dispensaries is medical-only, hence it has a reduced sales volume. The other three may be affected by a new dispensary, depending on where it(s) is/are located.”
“At this point, it would be safe to say the number should be 300k-plus,” he wrote in an email.
Cannabis operations provide tax money that goes into the Township’s general fund.
“Some have suggested using the money for drug education,” Mayor Phil Kramer remarked. “Perhaps we will do that in the future, but for now we have other funds for that purpose.”
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