AMHERST — Flexibility in the local option tax placed on recreational marijuana and clear rules related to oversight of the product continue to be top concerns for Amherst officials in a draft statement of principles unveiled last week.
Economic Development Director Geoff Kravitz on Monday presented a memo to the Select Board focusing on eight marijuana-related issues, half of which are specific to Amherst, as the state continues to move toward allowing retail sales July 1, 2018.
The most pressing issue, according to the memo, is that the local option tax is capped at 2 percent and will be insufficient to cover town expenses. Kravitz observes that communities similar to Amherst might spend an additional $500,000 to $1 million annually regulating the impacts of legal pot.
Kravitz said this is, in part, drawn from conversations with officials in Pueblo County, Colorado, where there has been a surge in building activity related to the cultivation and manufacturing of marijuana. Because of that, officials had to be hired whose exclusive focus was on regulation.
It is anticipated that Amherst, because of its large college student population, could have multiple stores selling recreational marijuana.
In a May 9 letter sent to Sen. Patricia D. Jehlen and Rep. Mark J. Cusack, the co-chairs of the Joint Committee on Marijuana Policy, Kravitz wrote: “The size of the recreational marijuana market in Amherst is unknown. Therefore we can’t determine, with any certainty, whether a 2 percent local option tax is sufficient to cover our anticipated expenses.”
In addition to the flexibility in the local option tax, other issues include the time needed to enact local zoning, providing more local control of licensing and ensuring that marijuana store signs don’t have to conform to a state standard.
More general concerns include the automatic conversion of medical marijuana dispensaries to recreational stores, the makeup of the Cannabis Control Commission and the Cannabis Advisory Board, the public health impacts of marijuana depending on potency, and clarifying aspects of the legislation that conflict or are ambiguous.
The Select Board will examine these principles again at its meeting June 2.
Town Manager Paul Bockelman said it would be great for the Select Board to make a policy statement that could be shared with municipal staff “and that it would be guidance for all town departments we work under.”
Select Board Chairwoman Alisa Brewer said internal staff meetings centered on marijuana are taking place regularly.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.