The Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office plans to request Board of Supervisors approval to spend $115,000 of its Smart and Safe Arizona funds from recreational marijuana tax collections on recruitment and retention of 911 dispatchers at the board’s meeting on Wednesday, May 17.
The $115,000 is intended as an adjustment to make the department competitive against its only true competitor for dispatchers, the city of Prescott’s regional communication center, and was among the more important budget priorities laid out by Yavapai County Sheriff David Rhodes.
“Unfortunately, marijuana is doing very well in the county, and we are getting a lot of tax money from it,” Rhodes said.
Arizona voters approved the recreational sale of marijuana in 2020, with 60% of statewide voters casting their ballots in favor of Proposition 207, including 52% of Yavapai County Voters.
YCSO spokeswoman Kristin Greene said that the department doesn’t have an official position on the legalization of marijuana.
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