Weed tax could lead to more scholarships for Pueblo students

Come November 6th, voters in Pueblo County will see a ballot question asking to raise the sales tax of recreational marijuana. 1/3 of those funds raised would towards supporting a scholarship program for students within the county.

It’s called Ballot Initiative 1A, and one of it’s goals is increase funding for the Pueblo Scholarship Program.

1A would raise the sales tax from 3.5 to 5.5 percent, and 1/3 of those funds would go towards the program. County officials would then lower the excise tax of recreational marijuana to from 3 to 2.5 percent. In its three years the scholarship program has solely been funded by fifty percent of the total excise tax rom recreational pot. With the sales tax, commissioners believe the scholarship program will be more financially secure.

The scholarship program that has helped more than eight hundred students financially with college tuition says it could be done for if 1A doesn’t pass come November though.

“We are going to be majorly impacted by the success of this ballot initiative passing,” said Christina Trujillo, the Executive Director of the Pueblo Hispanic Education Foundation.

Christina Trujillo, has been working on the program since it started three years ago.

Pueblo County Commissioners elected to put the question on the ballot last month.
“The scholarship program was at risk and is at risk if the ballot initiative doesn’t pass,” said Sal Pace more than a month ago. While it would raise the annual funds considerably if it passes. Trujillo believes their funding from the County would jump from $700,000 annually to $1.1 million. If 1A Trujillo SAYS the program would lose 200 thousand annually. “We have an obligation to those 800 plus scholarship recipients to ensure they have renewal funding,” said Trujillo. “While they are pursuing their degree and their certification.” However, there are arguments against ballot initiative 1A. Some are concerned that if it passes the raise in sales tax could greatly hurt one of Pueblo’s biggest economy drivers. “We are committed to funding those scholarships in order to make education more affordable and available to citizens in Pueblo county,” said Jim Parco, over a month ago when the ballot initiative was first approved my Pueblo County Commissioners. Parco is the owner of the dispensary Mesa Organics. ” But we’ve got to be careful about killing the goose that lays the golden egg. We don’t want to hurt the businesses driving the revenues to do the things we need to do.” Trujillo says she is not looking to harm the local economy.

“They have employees that are local that work within the industry,” pointed out Trujillo. “That’s the last thing we want to see is businesses closing and workers being displaced.”

Whether or not 1A passes come November 6th, Trujillo says she hopes to continue talks with the county and marijuana industry to work through any issues.

If it does pass, Trujillo hopes to expand the scholarship program for people not looking to attend college but different educations like trade school.