SOUTH HADLEY — Town Meeting members will be asked to vote on a plastic bag ban, Gaylord Memorial Library funding and a retail marijuana moratorium as part of Wednesday’s annual Town Meeting.

Town Meeting will cover 31 articles in the special and annual Town Meetings beginning at 6 p.m. in the Town Hall Auditorium.

The proposed plastic bag ban would prohibit plastic die-cut bags commonly used by retailers in favor of allowing only reusable, compostable or biodegradable bags.

The proposal — Article 21 — is scheduled for discussion near the end of the meeting and may cause a stir. The ban first came before special Town Meeting in January, where members opted to put the measure forward to town voters as part of the annual town election in April.

Voters approved the measure by a vote of 921 for and 552 against. Final approval to change the town’s bylaws must occur at a Town Meeting.

A majority of the articles on the special Town Meeting warrant Wednesday deal with moving funds from the approximately $1.6 million unreserved free cash account to cover various funds and deficits.

On the annual Town Meeting warrant, Article 8 addresses the town’s more than $45 million budget for fiscal 2018 that begins July 1. Built over the last seven months, the budget reflects an approximate $919,000 increase over the current year’s budget.

The largest budgetary increase comes in the form of more than $450,000 in health insurance costs. The $20.9 million school budget is a less than $200,000 increase from the fiscal 2017 budget.

While the $625,682 library budget represents a more than $50,000 reduction from fiscal 2017’s budget, it does not include funding for the upcoming integration of the Gaylord Memorial Library.

Article 9 addresses an $78,861 appropriation to fund the Gaylord Memorial Library under the memorandum of agreement which was passed at the January special Town Meeting. The town routinely appropriated $35,000 to the library.

Article 10 asks Town Meeting members to approve a moratorium on retail sales of recreational marijuana. If passed, the moratorium would last until July 1, 2018, to “allow the Town to put in place appropriate zoning, health regulations or other necessary conventions or protections for the safe and proper retail distribution of cannabis/marijuana in all forms,” according to the warrant.

Article 13 asks Town Meeting members to move the annual town election to September from April.

The move, Town Administrator Mike Sullivan said, would save the town from having additional elections which in turn saves money because every other year the election would line up with gubernatorial or presidential primaries.

With Article 23, the three-member elected Board of Health could become a five-member appointed board.

The proposed change comes as a result of discussions with the health director and the Board of Health. If approved, four members would be appointed and the health director would serve as the fifth, full-voting, member.

Emily Cutts can be reached at ecutts@gazettenet.com.