The Lake County Board of Supervisors approved placing two tax measures on the November ballot and agreed not to penalize people for paying their taxes late due to the fires.
Lake County Treasurer-Tax Collector Barbara Ringen said the delinquent date would be extended to August 15. Normally there would be a form that would have to be filled out to extend this date, however, since there is more than one person affected, the form is not needed.
This includes all of those who were in advisory and mandatory evacuation areas. The county will be looking at how to make this applicable to those who live in the county but were not under any evacuation notice due to the fact that the tax office had been closed in Lakeport.
District 5 Supervisor Rob Brown said he had received numerous calls from his constituents who asked whether they would be penalized for any late payments.
“I want to be sure such persons are not penalized for late payments — either monetarily or in terms of notification to their lenders, if applicable,” Brown said. “We just need to get the word out to the public so there is one less thing for them to worry about.”
If the topic needs further discussion, it will be brought back to the next Board of Supervisors meeting.
The two tax measures that will be put on the ballot are the Cannabis Business Tax and a Special Tax for the South Lake County Fire Protection District.
The Cannabis Business Tax was approved of its second reading on the Tuesday Board of Supervisor meeting. The finalized ordinance will be presented to the voters to decide whether to ratify it or not.
The question on the ballot for this measure will read:
“Shall Article VII be added to Chapter 18 of the Lake County Code imposing a Cannabis Business Tax in the unincorporated areas of the County, which, as of January 1, 2021, will impose an annual tax of $1.00 per square foot for nursery cultivation, 4 percent of gross receipts on a cannabis dispensary, micro-business, or delivery business, and 2.5 percent of gross receipts on a cannabis manufacturing, processing, transportation, distribution or other type of cannabis business.”
The cannabis businesses that would be included in this are cultivating, dispensing, producing, processing, preparing, storing, providing, donating, selling, or distributing medical cannabis or medical cannabis products by commercial cannabis businesses. How much a business will have to pay for taxes will depend on what type of business it is and whether it is indoor or outdoor.
County counsel Anita Grant said they had removed references to any increases in the future and clarified that the tax does not deal with cultivation other than in nurseries.
“This ordinance is specifically not effective unless or until approved by the voters so the board would be adopting the ordinance in terms of willing to move forward with this local law subject to the voter approval in November,” Grant said.
This tax will not apply to any personal and/or caregiver cannabis cultivation due to the Medicinal and Adult Use Cannabis Regulations and Safety Act.
The Special Tax is being proposed by the district to assist in meeting the costs of providing services, exercising of rights and powers, and increasing appropriations limit.
This will impose and levy a special tax having a maximum rate of $10 per benefit unit to assist the District. This will appear on the ballot for those who are voters in that district.
The ballot question will read:
“In order to continue to provide sufficient funding for fire and emergency medical services, shall South Lake County Fire Protection District Ordinance N. 2018-19 01 be approved authorizing the District to impose and levy a special tax having a maximum rate of $10 per benefit unit and increasing the District’s appropriations limit to permit spending of the revenue raised by the special tax, be approved.”
Diane Fridley from the Registrar of Voters said the last day to get these ordinances on the ballot was Tuesday. With the approval of these two, they will be added with the other measures for this November election.