Cannabis taxes collected by the State of California will pay for two new Manteca Police vehicles and two motorcycles for its traffic division.

The City Council last week accepted a $351,139 cannabis grant for law enforcement administered by the California Highway patrol.

It will be used to:

*buy and outfit a traffic enforcement SUV to replace an aging unit.

*buy and outfit a traffic enforcement F-150 truck to replace an aging unit.

*purchase two motorcycles to replace two aging motorcycles.

*conduct eight saturation patrols to combat impaired driving.

*fund five officers to attend the California Narcotics Officers Association Annual Symposium and Conference.

Manteca Police are now in the process of putting eight new vehicles into service that were acquired with part of the $7 million of the $13 million in COVID funds the city did not need to backfill sales tax losses due to pandemic shutdowns and municipal costs connected with the COVID crisis.

The rest of the $7 million has been earmarked for one-time expenses such as buying street repair equipment, needs at the wastewater treatment plant, and recreational upgrades among other needs.

Five are new patrol vehicles — three 2024 F-150 pickups and two 2024 Dodge Durango SUVs.

The others include a Ford F-250 pickup equipped with cages for animal control services as well as two unmarked vehicles for use by detectives.

Manteca Police has 27 vehicles, of which seven were sidelined at one point in mid-June due to various issues beyond routine maintenance.

The federal and state grants will enable the city to replace nine of the police vehicles they have the worst issues with.

Due to revenues not keeping up with municipal needs, the city has been unable to replace police vehicles when they started developing problems due to high mileage and wear and tear.

The lowest mileage police vehicle before the city last month took delivery of the first one using grant funds had 70,000 miles and the highest had 140,000 miles.

The federal COVID funds were a one-time deal.

The CHP grant from cannabis receipts is restricted to how it can be used such as traffic enforcement and dealing with narcotics issues.

The city has granted three firms permits to open storefront cannabis operations in Manteca.

They will open in the coming months.

The city is not likely to see revenue from the three concerns until 2025.

Based on community benefit agreements, the city could see at least a bare minimum of $600,000 in additional general fund revenue annually based on taxes the council has imposed on legal cannabis sales within the city.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com