AURORA, Colo. — A drop in cannabis sales in Aurora could mean the closure of a homeless shelter.
In 2022 and 2023 marijuana taxes generated more than $3 million in funding for the city each year. For 2024, the city projects that funding to decline to $1.4 million.
"It produced a lot of anxiety," said Kristen Baluyot, Social Services Director for Salvation Army. "We run two safe outdoor spaces out in Aurora."
Baluyot said the drop in revenue is significant to their funding.
The Salvation Army asked Aurora for $1 million in marijuana tax revenue to support its two pallet shelter sites. The service helps temporarily house more than 90 people. The city has said they could only give Salvation Army $180,000 in marijuana tax revenue due to the shortfall.
Salvation Army does have other funding streams through COVID-19 relief dollars, but Baluyot said she is worried those funds will start to go away.
"It is scary in that if we don't have funding, we have concerns about how we are going to continue operating those services," she said.
"We are really committed to make sure services are not being cut as much as possible," said Emma Knight, Aurora's Manager of Homelessness Programs.
On Thursday, Knight attributed the gap to fewer cannabis sales, and not having as much money left over in marijuana tax revenue to carry into the next year.
"I think we have seen it declining over the past few years and what we have been asking of our providers is they start looking elsewhere for funding," Knight said.
According to Baluyot, the Salvation Army has pursued requests for funding proposals from the state and other sources, but they haven't been able to secure additional funding. The provider is leaning on the city to help cover temporary housing for dozens of people.
"We need Aurora to partner with us to do that as a municipality in allocating their resources," she said.
A proposal could be introduced to council on Monday. Councilmember Allison Coombs said she's asked if there's extra money from the general funds to close those gaps. It's unclear if this idea would get support from other councilmembers.
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