Friday, February 23, 2018

Since there have been some comments about pot, the effects of and possible sales tax revenue on this issue, I found some information that may be of interest to those who posted said comments.

I found this on the Massachusetts Municipal Association web site;

Look under Resource Library - Annual Labor Law update/ Mirick O'Connell 2018.


3. Marijuana Law -
On November 8, 2016, Massachusetts voters approved a ballot question legalizing marijuana for recreational and commercial use, Chapter 334 of the Acts of 2016 (the "Marijuana Law"). This past July, however, the Marijuana Law underwent a fairly significant re-write via Chapter 55 of the Acts of 2017, known as "An Act to Ensure Safe Access to Marijuana." As revised, the Marijuana Law includes several key points relative to municipalities:

(a) Prohibiting/ Regulating Marijuana Establishments:
• Communities that voted 'Yes' on Question 4 in November of2016 may prohibit one or all types of recreational marijuana establishments by local referendum.
• Communities that voted 'No' on Question 4 may prohibit one or all types of recreational marijuana establishments by town meeting or city council vote only, up until December 31, 2019.
• In lieu of a full or partial ban, communities may still adopt bylaws or ordinances imposing reasonable regulations on the time, place and manner of marijuana establishment operations.
• The new Marijuana Act clarifies that zoning provisions may not prevent a medical marijuana establishment licensed as of July 1, 2017 from converting to a recreational facility.
(b) Local Referenda:
• The Marijuana Law now provides a form of ballot question for the local referendum seeking to prohibit recreational marijuana establishments, and provides authorization to place such a question on a regular or special election ballot.
• Municipal acts regulating or prohibiting recreational or medical marijuana establishments prior to July 1, 2017 are not affected by the new Marijuana Law.

(c) Host Agreements:
• Recreational and medical marijuana establishments must enter a Host Community Agreement with the municipality.
• Impact fees under a Host Community Agreement are capped at 3% of the facility's gross sales and are effective for no longer than 5 years. (d) Local Sales Tax:
• Municipalities may, by local option, adopt a local sales tax on recreational marijuana establishments of up to 3 % of sales (increased from 2%)

(e) Cannabis Control Commission:
• The Cannabis Control Commission expands to a 5-member body, with consolidated regulatory powers over both recreational and medical marijuana establishments.

On December 28, 2017, the state's Cannabis Control Commission released draft regulations. Once finalized, the regulations will govern the Ii censure of recreational marijuana established in Massachusetts, a process intended to start this spring. The draft regulations do not provide much in the way of additional guidance on the local regulation of recreational marijuana, beyond the limitations set forth in the statute approved by voters in November of2016 and amended by the Legislature in July of 2017.

Under the draft regulations, marijuana operators would need to hold "community outreach hearings" before submitting a license application to the Cannabis Control Commission. In addition, the draft regulations provide that upon written request from the Cannabis Control Commission, municipalities have 60 days to certify that a proposed marijuana establishment complies with local zoning provisions. The draft regulations also provide that if a municipality has no local siting requirements, recreational marijuana establishments may not be sited within 500 feet of a public or private school, daycare center, or any facility in which children commonly congregate.

The final regulations are due by March 15, 2018. The Cannabis Control Commission will hold public hearings on the draft regulations in February

12 comments:

  1. Just to clarify how Templeton Voters responded.

    In 2014 the Town of Templeton voted 1630 Yes to 1000 NO on Medical Marijuana 61.9% voted in favor of Medical marijuana.

    In 2016 the Town of Templeton voted 2143 Yes to 1875 NO on Recreational Marijuana. 53.3% of the Voters in favor of Recreational Marijuana.


    I'd like to know what business the Planning Board or any other Committee in Town would have to overrule the position of the voters!

    Templeton needs income.
    Templeton is a "Right to Farm" community


    Templeton is sitting on Route 2. Templeton is in a unique position to benefit from a new income source in the State. Why should Templeton voters who are overwhelmingly in favor of this subject to spend their tax money in another community.


    I believe we have a unique opportunity here to gain a positive income stream from out of town residents, which is the key point.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous1:14 PM

      And your point?
      Voters also passed a 50 million dollar school in a shit location, does that make it right?

      Delete
    2. Not necessarily, but it does make it what they, the taxpayer, voter, citizen state they want, right or wrong. Who should be able to tell them differently?

      Right and wrong isn't how we vote. We vote YES and NO.

      Are we not building the school? So, back to you..........and your point?

      Delete
  2. Anonymous10:40 AM

    I doubt that any money would benefit taxpayers. Rather than use increased tax base to reduce the property tax, Templeton would just spend more. Gansett would increase our assessment. Selectmen would expand town government. Town employees would have their hands out. All the taxpayers would get would be the notoriety of living at "The Pot Exit" on Rt. 2.

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  3. Anon 10:40

    Pretty much like anything else that would be up to the taxpayer/voter. Citizens have an amazing amount of control over tax dollars if they choose to use it.

    I would think we could require that the tax dollars be proportioned as we the voters choose.

    Myself, I'd say we could use it towards the added costs of the Police station. Think of the Irony of a previously illegal drug now paying for taxpayers safety rather than drawing tax dollars from it.
    We could use a portion for The Stabilization Fund or the Reserve Fund so the taxpayer doesn't get whacked with overrides (which hopefully will be less and less over the upcoming years with greater overall planning) on top of the ever increasing tax demands.

    The biggest benefit to me is the fact that a potential for OUT OF TOWN dollars coming into Templeton at a significantly higher rate.

    We are talking about a meals tax. Thats meals tax does the same basic thing. It gets a percentage of out of town monies. The difference is the amount.


    Meals Tax: Roughly for every $100.00 spent the Town gets .75% or around 75 cents.

    Marijuana : Roughly for every $100.00 spent the Town gets 3% or around $3.00


    Thats 4 times the revenue to the Town for every dollar spent.


    Anon 10:40 - Should we do nothing? I ask because in my 54 years I've never seen government spend less, decrease assessments or have employees looking for less money. I've also never seen a tax in MA that allows local town governments to gain a direct 3% tax.

    We are spending a considerable amount of time and effort to increase Templeton tax base by creating an EDIC, rezoning, etc and those same folks are talking about blocking a gift horse.
    Oh, and this gift horse has been approved by the majority of Templeton voters on 2 occasions already. Now when we are talking about legal access to tax products the Planning Board appeared to have a negative position. Based on what?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Property tax rate is set in order to pay the expenses allocated or approved by Town Meeting. Town Meeting needs more people to attend who are ready and able to engage in debate. I would suggest or opine that selectmen grow government because people allow it. When there is a motion and second to move the question at Town Meeting, people simply only need to vote no on that motion and debate could continue. Citizenry should perhaps be more supportive of things like the Advisory Committee who may have challenges to the selectmen spending plan or recommendations or comments which differ from selectmen. Perhaps ask yourself if the meeting of selectmen was attended by 50 people who asked the same question; why are you proposing raises to Town employees when you are talking about cutting town services? Templeton needs engaged citizens, more than we have now, and they need to speak up and take control of their town. People who attend Town Meeting become the legislative body of the Town and approve or disapprove all articles presented to them. Demand that selectmen manage or "be the boss" of Town employees rather than trying to be their friends. If you simply give up anon 10:40 AM, they do win [selectmen] and they seem to count on you doing just that. So, gather 24 friends and show up at Mondays selectmen meeting, February 26, 2018 at 6:30 PM at town hall and comment on the to be proposed budget. Just a suggestion.

    ReplyDelete
  5. May 13, 2017 Total Voters 216
    May 14, 2016 total voters 65
    May 16, 2015 total voters 117
    May 17, 2014 total voters 118


    Thats an average of 129 Templeton Voters showing up at the Town Meeting. I think thats somewhere around 2+% of the voters.

    It's not hard to see why, with 129 people concerned enough about in town issues to attend 1 meeting a year why we have 23 openings on our committees.

    How do we turn this around or is this maybe saying we need to be more open to alternatives. Maybe its time the entire process gets an update. Our present process is based off of what, a 200+ year old structure. I dont know, but obviously having less than 3% of the people making decisions can cause problems.


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  6. Anonymous1:36 PM

    If I were a pot-head, I would grow my own pot and avoid all taxes. In People's Republic, is OK to grow pot but illegal to make whisky.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Our founding Fathers did both............taxes and profits made them illegal.

      Delete
    2. Not illegal to make whisky in Massachusetts:

      State Overview state laws
      Massachusetts not only allows residents of the state to own a still, but residents are allowed to distill spirits for their own personal use. It is still illegal to manufacture and sell moonshine, but as long as it is not for sale, it is legal in the state, though as always it is still federally illegal.

      And because it is legal to own a still it is also legal to use your still for making essential oils, vinegar, distilling water, etc.

      Delete
  7. Anonymous3:23 PM

    Federal law prohibits unlicensed distilling liquor or fuel. And you're wrong in assuming it's ok to make liquor just because it's ok to own a still.

    https://www.clawhammersupply.com/blogs/moonshine-still-blog/7155304-is-making-moonshine-legal

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous4:11 PM

    Mrs Farrell do you follow ..”And no law, rule, regulation, tax or court order that it produces is at all legitimate.” Thanks

    ReplyDelete