§ 2A.421. APPLICATION AND ANNUAL LICENSE FEES.

(a) Beginning January 1, 2018, the Office of Cannabis shall charge every applicant for a cannabis-related permit a non-refundable permit application fee. The Office of Cannabis shall also charge every business that receives a cannabis-related permit an annual license fee.

(b) The Office of Cannabis shall not collect any application or license fees under this Section 2A.421 until the Board of Supervisors enacts an ordinance establishing the amounts of those fees. No later than November 1, 2017, the Director, in consultation with the Controller, shall submit to the Board of Supervisors a proposed ordinance setting a schedule of permit application and annual license fees. The proposed fee schedule shall be calculated to recover but not exceed the City’s estimated costs of application-related and licensing-related activities, including but not limited to: administration, public outreach and education, development and maintenance of an online portal and application system, review and processing of applications and permit renewals, complaint resolution, inspections, enforcement activities, adjudication of appeals, and coordination with state agencies and other city departments. In developing this fee schedule, the Director shall estimate the number of permits and licenses to be issued per year, and consider any other information he or she determines appropriate in making the cost estimates referenced above.

(c) Beginning with fiscal year 2018-2019, the permit application and annual license fees set pursuant to subsection (b) of this Section 2A.421 may be adjusted each year on July 1, without further action by the Board of Supervisors. Not later than April 1 of each year, the Controller shall determine whether the current fees have produced or are projected to produce revenues sufficient to support the costs of application- related and licensing-related activities, and that the fees will not produce revenue that is significantly more than the costs of providing such services. The Controller shall, if necessary, adjust the fees upward or downward for the upcoming fiscal year as appropriate to ensure that the program recovers the costs of operation without producing revenue that is significantly more than such costs. The adjusted rates shall become operative on July 1.

(Added by Ord. , File No. 170275, App. 7/27/2017, Eff. 8/26/2017; amended by Ord. , File No. 170859, App. 9/15/2017, Eff. 10/15/2017)