EASTHAMPTON — The City Council approved a new donation account Wednesday designed to reduce the city’s utility costs and fund energy efficiency projects. The council also sent two other proposed accounts related to property taxes and recreational marijuana revenues to a subcommittee for review.
The Municipal Sustainability Donation Account was put forward by the mayor and approved 7-0 by the council. City Councilors Owen Zaret and William Lynch IV were not present for the vote. Valerie Bernier, the city’s auditor, said any individual or organization can donate to the account.
The council sent two proposed stabilization funds to its finance committee: the Cannabis Impact Fee Stabilization Fund and the Tax Rate Stabilization Fund.
The cannabis fund would hold and dole out money the city receives in community impact fees from recreational marijuana businesses. Currently, INSA is the only such business open in the city, and the city is set to receive its first community payment from it soon.
The city’s host community agreement calls for INSA to pay the city the fee on an annual basis. The fee is equal to 3% of the dispensary’s recreational marijuana sales for a full year. A 3% excise tax is also collected for the city on recreational marijuana sales, which is is disbursed by the state on a quarterly basis.
City Council President Peg Conniff asked whether money in the new cannabis fund could be rolled into any other city funds.
“I would be worried about violating the host community agreement, which is signed as a contract,” Mayor Nicole LaChapelle responded.
As for how the money might be spent, LaChapelle outlined different possibilities, such as recreational programming for youth or marijuana education for seniors, but said the spending had to be connected to the impact of marijuana.
The Tax Rate Stabilization Fund, meanwhile, would be able to exert downward pressure on the tax rate, if the council were to vote by a two-thirds majority to release money from it into the budget process.
“It would make the bottom line of the amount to be raised by taxes less,” Bernier, the auditor, said at the meeting. “It would reduce taxes for everyone across the board.”
The mayor said it has not yet been determined how the city would fund the new account, though she indicated that the city’s free cash that is certified by the state could be one source.
Also at the meeting, City Councilor J.P. Kwiecinski’s proposed legislation to require a 75-foot buffer between residential property lines and a marijuana business in a highway business district was referred to the ordinance committee. The buffer would only apply to the side or rear property lines of a marijuana business.
When asked by Conniff if a particular business was the impetus for this legislation, Kwiecinski said no, but that some people living near the proposed Easthampton Advanced Research Park Project LLC on Route 10 have complained about marijuana odors on the bike path near INSA.
“In a residential neighborhood this can really impact the quality of life,” Kwiecinski said.
Easthampton Advanced Research Park Project is seeking to site a marijuana business on the Tasty Top property off Northampton Street.
At the end of the meeting, Kwiecinski also noted that taxpayers have until the end of the month to appeal their tax bills.
Bera Dunau can be reached at bdunau@ gazettenet.com.