Arcata Collects First Grow House Taxes

◼ The City of Arcata has received its first payment from PG&E of monies collected under the Excessive Energy Use Tax. It’s a lot less than expected. - Kevin Hoover/Mad River Union

...The 2011 figures on which the tax’s financial projections were based tallied 633 households using excessive electricity, defined as three times normal residential use. The current number of homes in that category – presumed to be mostly cannabis grow houses – is less than one-sixth the 2011 figure.

◼ Arcata: Marijuana Leaves? - Mike Dronkers/Lost Coast Outpost

If you haven’t read his piece yet in the Mad River Union, go do it right now. Then listen to the KHUM interview at the link, in which MRU reporter Kevin Hoover talks about what looks like a massive reduction in large-scale grow houses in Arcata.

..The newly implemented Measure I levies a 45 percent surcharge on residences that use, effectively, a supermarket’s worth of power. PG&E’s data showed that Arcata had over 600 houses that met the criteria. Now that the tax bill is due, only 96 households meet the criteria.

...Hoover told KHUM that the growers may have relocated — to West End Road, say, or up to McKinleyville.