SARANAC LAKE — The Harrietstown Town Council decided to allow cannabis retail dispensaries within the town’s boundaries in a 4-1 vote Thursday.
After initially opting out of allowing cannabis shops in 2021, most town councilors want to get a slice of the tax revenue the businesses would generate as an additional revenue source. At the same time, the village is pitching an agreement with Harrietstown where the town would forgo its portion of the tax revenue, leaving it all to the village, and the village would put it into services both municipalities share.
When the selling of recreational cannabis was legalized in New York in 2021, local governments had a one-time option to opt out of allowing dispensaries and consumption lounges within their borders, with the option to reverse this decision at a later date. Local governments were automatically opted in otherwise.
The Harrietstown Council chose to opt out, with councilors saying at the time that they wanted to wait for state regulations to be finalized before making a decision, since that was their only chance to opt out and the decision could be reversed at a later date by repealing the opt-out law.