The Franklin Reporter & Advocate Eight Villages, One Community
Township Councilman Carl Wright (D-Ward 4) believes the Township could be more creative in spending the cannabis sales taxes it collects.
He also thinks more thought should be given to providing for affordable housing in Franklin.
Never one to shy away from expressing his feelings, Wright let his opinions be known at the November 26 Township Council meeting.
The Township receives 2 percent of all sales made by the current 11 retail cannabis stores in Franklin. For the first three quarters of 2024, that amounted to more than $260,000.
In 2023, with four cannabis retailers in operation – though not for the entire year – the Township realized about $200,000 in sales taxes.
Township officials have said that the money would be used in the annual budget’s general fund to mitigate any property tax increases.
Wright on November 26 said he disagreed with that plan. He said his eyes were opened at the recent League of Municipalities conference in Atlantic City, when he spoke with officials from other towns that allow cannabis sales about what they were doing with the taxes.
“Well, they gave us insight into, Carl, hey, you’re getting basically money here that you wouldn’t have gotten,” he said. “And you should be using those funds to train your residents. You need a project done, social project done, let’s do it. Not to be put into a general fund that they use for things that we usually give money to, like a Sister’s Network if they need it, Great Expectations, Food Bank, things like this, they’re going to get funded anyway. It’s the other things that we need to get funded.”
“Maybe we can expand something that the cops do, as far as social projects,” Wright said. “If we ever get a YMCA, transportation to the YMCA. If you’re looking at job training programs, what can we do if you’re picked by, say, the plumbers’ union, carpenters’ union for training, and you need to get there, maybe we can help you out with that transportation. Again, social programs.”
“Now that’s just something off the top of my head, but I do think we need to form of committee, Mr. Mayor, to actually look,” he said. “Some would suggest, Carl, it should be put into a general fund. I disagree with that. But I am not the only voice in Franklin Township.”
“So I think we need to form a committee, get our heads together, come back and say, here we got four people, we’re going to look at what we can do with the money, how can we spend the money, and I think that would work wonders for Franklin Township,” Wright said.
The state Department of Community Affairs recently released “a set of recommendations “guidance” to towns on their 10-year obligations to provide for affordable housing. The report suggested that Franklin could provide for 714 units in the next decade.
Wright suggested that affordable housing could be another topic for committees.
“As affordable housing moves forward, we definitely need to work on committees to actually think and move on some of the types of things that come up with dealing with affordable housing,” he said. “Now that’s not tomorrow or anything like that. The Township Manager of course would run that because he knows about it. Our attorney, Louis Rainone, would know about it.”
“So these are some of the things that we need to be aware of and think about,” Wright said.
There were no comments from the Council on Wright’s suggestions.
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