After statewide delays in getting recreational cannabis dispensaries up and running, Saratoga Springs is beginning to see a return on investment.
Silver Therapeutics opened the Spa City’s first cannabis dispensary on the city’s East Side last July. Since then, the Weibel Avenue storefront has seen nonstop business.
There’s a consistent flow of customers. Most come in to pick up online orders and others take a look at the menu.
Jacob LeLievre is the assistant general manager at the Saratoga Springs location.
“It is finally warm again, it’s bringing the people back out, the snow has finally gone, we couldn’t be happier about it. Business is amazing we have a constant stream of customers coming in and out essentially and we’re very grateful to be here serving this amazing community,” said LeLievre.
According to city Finance Commissioner, Minita Sanghvi business is booming — the city collected more than $92,000 in sales tax revenue from two dispensaries in the first quarter of 2025.
“We had estimated $150,000 for this year, I think we’ll blow that out of the water. A rough estimate that would be cautiously optimistic would be maybe $300,000,” said Sanghvi.
Silver Therapeutics CFO Brendan McKee says business will only get better as the city approaches its busy tourism season.
“When the track opens and when SPAC gets going I think we’ll see a nice ramp-up and uptick. Even without those two things operating currently we’re really happy with the traffic that we’re seeing at our store and stores overall, but particularly in Saratoga. It continues to be really good,” said McKee.
The city had originally planned to receive $250,000 a year in sales tax collection from dispensaries, though, after delays, Sanghvi moved to a more conservative estimate.
She welcomes the increase in revenues, saying President Donald Trump’s economic policies could impact the local economy.
“So, we have a lot of unknowns that are still up in the air, there’s a lot of chaos in the market. But any additional revenue is a good sign. Especially if the tariff wars impact our energy bills, especially if the tariff wars impact tourism to our state, to our city,” said Sanghvi.
A novel seasonal paid parking program in the city generated upwards of $131,000 in net revenue. That followed a $145,000 outlay for equipment and installation. Revenues were also reduced because of a compressed paid parking debut season that ran from mid-June to Labor Day.
Public Works Commissioner Chuck Marshall wants to cut the program, but admits he’ll have to find a way to make up the lost revenue.
He previously suggested he could make up some of the gap through an increase in cannabis sales revenue, but Sanghvi says there are better ways to spend that money.
“Additional monies will help us pay for the firefighters that are coming online. So, we have the SAFER grant with 16 firefighters and we will be needing to pay close to $1 million for their salaries, benefits, uniforms, all of these things. We’ve been able to squirrel away about $565,000 toward that goal,” said Sanghvi.
The city is in need of new and increased revenue sources.
Public Safety Commissioner Tim Coll has complained that his department fell nearly $500,000 short in the 2025 budget. For the first two months of the year, it’s down more than 800 hours in overtime.
The city is also expecting local- and state-level short-term rental regulations to begin generating revenue for the city.
