The people who plan to sell marijuana under the Massachusetts medical marijuana program are urging state officials to lower the fees they would be charged or base them on the amount of business they are likely to do.

The state Department of Public Health released proposed regulations in May that would require licensed marijuana dispensaries to pay a nonrefundable $31,500 application fee and a $50,000 annual operating fee, plus $500 per year per employee. Patients seeking to buy marijuana would be required to pay a $50 annual registration fee.

Officials representing potential dispensary applicants said the business fees should not be one-size-fits-all. They testified at a hearing at the Department of Public Health that the fees should be based on the number of likely customers they will have or based on the actual cost of reviewing an application.

“This high fee may be detrimental to some businesses,” said Nicola Giudice, a legal assistant to Vicente Sederberg LLC, a medical marijuana law firm with offices in Massachusetts and Colorado.

The legislation requires at least one but no more than five licensed dispensaries in each county. Richard M. Evans, a Northampton lawyer representing potential dispensary applicants, said he expects roughly 1 percent of a county’s population would qualify as medical marijuana patients. In a heavily populated county such as Middlesex, each dispensary would serve more patients than a single dispensary in a sparsely populated county such as Franklin or Dukes, Evans said.

“There needs to be consideration given to our small island community,” said Geoff Rose, who is seeking a dispensary license in Dukes County.

Nial DeMena, director of operations for Manna Wellness Inc., a nonprofit that wants to establish a dispensary in Berkshire County, suggested the state should also take a county’s per capita income into account.

“Our spending in our community will be concomitant with our revenue,” DeMena said. “We hope DPH would consider license and operation fees commensurate with our revenue potential.”

David Rabinovitz, an industry consultant, called for substantially higher application fees for dispensaries located in densely populated counties. “This equitably shifts the funding burden from applicants to participants,” Rabinovitz said after the hearing.

Rose said some percentage of the $31,500 application fee should be returned to applicants who fail to win a license, as is the case in some other states. New Jersey, for example, charges a $20,000 application fee with $18,000 refundable for unsuccessful applicants. Maine returns $1,400 of the $1,500 application fee to unsuccessful applicants.

Giudice suggested the fee be proportional to the department’s cost of reviewing each dispensary agent registration.

Even though patients with financial hardship could waive their $50 annual fee, some officials still believe the fee is too high.

Matthew Allen, executive director of the Massachusetts Patient Advocacy Alliance, said he was concerned the $50 fee could still be a burden for people with limited income who don’t meet the guidelines for waiving the fee, making the cost prohibitive when combined with the price of purchasing the medical marijuana. Among states with a medical marijuana registry that is up and running, the patient fee ranges from $25 in Alaska to $200 in New Jersey and Oregon. Most states have separate, lower fees for low-income people. The only two states that charge no registration fees for patients are Maine and New Mexico. Allen cited the marijuana price of $400 per ounce in Maine, estimating an annual cost of $45,000 for patients who purchase 10 ounces every month.

The Department of Public Health will hold a listening session on Tuesday for people who are planning to apply for dispensary licenses.