CRIPPLE CREEK • Cripple Creek voters will decide in November whether to legalize the sale of recreational and medical marijuana in city limits.

If voters in the small gold-mining and casino community of about 1,200 residents approve the ballot question this fall, Cripple Creek would be the first Teller County municipality to allow marijuana sales.

Campaign proponents say the measure would boost the city’s revenues, which have taken a hit since casinos closed for several months in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. The city’s budget depends heavily on revenue from tourism and its casinos, and money from gaming device fees hasn’t rebounded to pre-pandemic levels, despite increased device fees City Council imposed in April.

A boost in Cripple Creek’s coffers from marijuana sales could help fix local roads, sewer and water infrastructure, and could help address parks and recreation needs,

among others, Kyle Blakely said. Blakely is the registered agent of Cripple Creek Wins, a citizen group that submitted an initiative petition advocating for the issue. It went in front of the council last week, but city leaders ultimately chose to refer the matter to voters in November’s general election.

“This would help diversify the city’s revenue to avoid a situation like in the pandemic, when the casinos had to shut down and the revenues dropped,” Blakely said Wednesday.

Some elected officials in Teller County have spoken against allowing marijuana sales in the city. They said Cripple Creek is too small to address emergency, law enforcement and public health needs they say would follow if voters approved the measure.

“You’re going to have higher homeless(ness) issues. You’re going to have more violence,” Sheriff Jason Mikesell told the City Council last week. “It’s not all based on the marijuana but (it’s) because of the issues that you’re bringing in with that type of thing.”

Mikesell said allowing pot sales would increase the need for emergency services response, increase the cost for law enforcement regulation and response, and would increase hospitalizations.

Teller County Commission Chairman Dan Williams said since there is no state regulation on marijuana potency that could increase the negative health effects some users might experience.

“This is not like (3.2%) beer or 80-proof alcohol,” he said. “So you have no idea what’s going to happen to the folks that come up here.”

The Sheriff’s Office is “already dealing with” public safety issues from marijuana, Mikesell said. “I don’t know how we deal with it exponentially if we’re selling it legalized up here at a much higher dosage than somebody can grow at home.”

Blakely said legalizing pot sales in Cripple Creek wouldn’t “significantly increase the use of cannabis” locally.

“They’re looking at is as if nobody up in that area uses cannabis today,” he said. People he and other petition-gatherers spoke to who already use the drug say they’re buying it in Pueblo or Manitou Springs, he said.

Allowing sales in Cripple Creek would “provide additional revenue that could provide services to deal with those issues,” Blakely said. “They’re looking at dealing with it now without those revenues.”

Williams said relying on pot sales to generate revenue wouldn’t be a good long-term solution for the city, since sales have declined statewide in the past year.

Colorado reported $146.4 million in sales for recreational and medical marijuana in June, down from $187.3 million in June 2021, or a 22% decrease, according to figures released Tuesday by the Colorado Department of Revenue.

Medical pot sales dropped 44% in the last year, raking in $19.2 million as of June this year compared with $34.5 million in June 2021, data show. Recreational sales are down 17% in the same time frame, dropping from $152.7 million in June 2021 to $127.2 million this June.

Williams said Teller County commissioners are looking for other solutions to help fill in the city’s financial gaps left by decreased gaming device fee revenue.

Voters will also have to choose whether to approve a proposed 5% excise tax imposed on unprocessed retail and medical marijuana as well as processed products.

Funds from that tax are proposed to go into the city’s general fund, with 25% of marijuana excise tax revenue going to promote tourism marketing for the city.