SLO County reduces cannabis fees by up to 60% — but growers say it’s not enough
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- SLO County cut cannabis fees by up to 60% following enforcement team changes.
- Growers say fee cuts offset prior hikes but fail to ease business burdens fully.
- Officials redirected duties and hired outside vendors to reduce overall compliance costs.
San Luis Obispo County made across-the-board reductions to the hefty fees cannabis growers pay to run their legal operations — but local growers said it wasn’t enough to rectify the burden their small businesses face.
“We’re still bleeding, and we need them to make some serious changes,” Justin Carlson, co-owner of the Cayucos cannabis farm Terp Canyon, told The Tribune. “We keep putting Band-aids on a broken system.”
County-wide budget cuts in June left the Sheriff’s Office Cannabis Compliance Team short four people, a structural shake-up that ultimately reduced costs. As a result, the SLO County Board of Supervisors voted on Tuesday to reduce cannabis fees for growers to reflect the actual operational expenses of the enforcement team.
The new fee schedule reduces 17 different fees by anywhere from 4% to 60%, potentially saving growers tens of thousands of dollars, according to the staff report. On average, fees were reduced by 40%.
But these reductions come on the heels of fee increases, partly counter-acting the cuts.
The annual cannabis business fee was increased by 11% in July from $18,702 to over $20,000, so even though it is now being reduced by 39% to $12,641, this only realistically reflects a 28% decrease. The growers said this is still far from enough.
“It’s still getting a reduction, but after they increased it,” Carlson said. “They’re making it seem like it’s a bigger reduction than it actually is.”
Supervisor Dawn Ortiz-Legg said at Tuesday’s meeting that she “would have hoped that this would have been a happy day” for cannabis growers, but saw that was not the case.
“You’re disappointed in us,” she said. “I think that we’re going to have to go forward and see how we can do better.”
How will cannabis oversight change with the new cuts?
The fees were reduced as a result of the Sheriff’s Office cutting staff from its cannabis enforcement team, redistributing those responsibilities to other law enforcement staff or a third-party vendor to reduce overall operational costs for the county.
For example, a third-party vendor will be used to perform background checks previously conducted by sheriff’s deputies.
The vendor will perform the checks, but the Sheriff’s Office will retain full authority and oversight of cannabis operations.
The cost to investigate complaints about illegal operations are not paid for by the compliance fees and require other general fund support from the county. Total county general fund support for the team will be $382,514, according to the staff report.
What fees do cannabis growers now owe in SLO County?
Cannabis operators pay thousands of dollars in fees per year, including annual license renewal and inspection fees.
Prior to increases in July, it cost growers $18,702 to renew cultivation licenses and $15,441 to renew non-cultivation projects. In July, those fees were bumped up to $20,842 and $16,760, respectively — but Tuesday’s changes reduced the fees by over 40% each.
Now, license renewal will cost $12,641 for cultivation and $9,050 for non-cultivation — 39% and 46% reductions, respectively.
Cannabis operators who paid their license renewal fee before the reductions would be refunded the difference, a spokesperson for the Sheriff’s Office said at Tuesday’s board meeting.
The reductions also slashed the cost of applying for a cannabis business license in half.
Previously, a cultivation business application cost $28,641 across two phases, and about $1,000 less for non-cultivation businesses. Now, the application fee for cultivators will be $12,413 — a nearly 60% decrease. Non-cultivating businesses will pay $10,790.
Other reduced fees include first-year site visits — which were lowered by around 30% for both types of business — the fee for adding a business partner — which was reduced by more than half — fees for adding another location and violation fees.
Here is a full table of all fee reductions:
Cannabis growers say reduced fees are not enough
Even so, cannabis operators at Tuesday’s meeting said the lowered fees are not enough to support their struggling businesses.
“The cannabis industry is in crisis,” Austen Connella, owner of SLO Cal Roots, said on Tuesday, noting that prices have dropped over 50% since 2021 and unlicensed growers still control more than 60% of California’s cannabis market.
He argued for the elimination of the sheriff’s cannabis compliance team to reduce lingering bias against cannabis operators and to generate savings that can be reinvested in other county programs.
Carlson similarly called for the county to “revamp the whole system,” suggesting that cannabis be designated an agricultural product and put in the hands of the agricultural commissioner rather than law enforcement.
“We don’t need a Band-aid here,” he said. “We need to stitch up the wound.”
This story was originally published September 10, 2025 at 11:25 AM.
