CAIRO — Ten months after the town board opted out of marijuana dispensaries, Cairo officials Monday reversed their decision and voted to accept them, becoming the first Greene County municipality to change its mind.
The Cairo Town Board passed the new local law to opt in to the state legislation. Possession and use of recreational marijuana will be legal for town residents 21 and older when sales are permitted.
Cairo Town Supervisor Jason Watts, who took the office in January, said that as a councilman his reason for voting yes was purely financial. He said in December the town will have a chance to collect more revenue and the only way to do that was to establish a distribution center in Cairo.
A capacity crowd attending Monday’s public hearing on the law, before the regular town board meeting, was overwhelmingly in favor of opting in to the cannabis dispensaries, emphasizing the community’s interest, Watts said Thursday.
“For me, it was about the public’s response and it was an overwhelming yes,” Watts said. “Looking at the crowd, I’d say 85% of the room wanted it and 15% didn’t want it.”
The law approved by the town board excludes lounges, Watts said.
“We did not vote on the lounges,” Watts said. “I talked to the members of the board before the meeting and we all agreed that we were opposed to the lounges.”
Former Town Supervisor John Coyne, Councilwoman Mary Jo Cords and Councilman Tim Powers voted against opting during the initial 3-2 vote last December. Councilman Stephen Kralovich and then-Councilman Watts voted in favor.
The opt-in law taken up by the Cairo Town Board on Monday was approved in an identical 3-2 decision. This time, Watts, Councilman Michael Flaherty and Councilwoman Debra Bogins voted for the measure. Cords and Powers repeated their votes in opposition to the law. Kralovich resigned from the board earlier this year.
Cords did not return a call for comment by press time.
As part of the state action that legalized possession and use of marijuana in April 2021, a local excise tax of 4% will be imposed on the sale of cannabis. From that tax, 75% of the revenue will be channeled to local municipalities and 25% goes to the counties where the cannabis dispensaries are located.
The law allows municipalities that choose to opt out, as Cairo did in December, to opt back in at a later date.
Cannabis lounges will be on the ballot in the town of Catskill in November as voters will decide the fate of a referendum that would allow on-site marijuana cafes.
Powers said in December he wanted the cannabis dispensary proposal to go before Cairo voters as a referendum in the November election.
The Catskill town board voted 3-1 last December to opt out of permitting lounges, but Catskill town officials endorsed allowing dispensaries.
Under the state Marijuana Regulation & Taxation Act that legalized cannabis in New York for residents ages 21 and older last March, municipalities had until the end of 2021 to opt out of allowing cannabis lounges and dispensaries within their borders.
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