Brookline Town Election Ballot Questions Proposed

BROOKLINE, MA – Brookline voters will head to the polls May 2 for their annual town election and vote on several issues, including a Proposition 2 ½ override and debt exclusion as well as marijuana retail licenses.

The Brookline Select Board is set to discuss the questions in a public meeting Tuesday evening at 5 p.m. located in the Select Board Hearing Room on the sixth floor of Brookline Town Hall.

Community members are asked to share their thoughts and opinions about ballot questions, and can attend the meeting in-person or virtually via Zoom.

Here are the ballot questions for consideration, according to the Select Board meeting packet:

Question 1

Shall the Town of Brookline be allowed to exempt from the provisions of proposition two and one half, so-called, the amounts required to pay for the bonds issued in order to pay costs of constructing a new PreK-8 School which includes renovations/addition to the existing historic Pierce School and other site improvements including reconstruction and repair of the Town Hall and Pierce School garages which are beneath the new school and the Town Park across School Street, including the payment of all costs related to designing the new school project, equipping and furnishing the school, site improvements, and all other costs incidental and related thereto?

Questions 2A and Sb are separate questions. You may vote for or against each question independently. Each questions requires a majority of those voting on that question to pass. If both Questions 2A and 2B pass, the question with the highest dollar amount will prevail over the other.

Question 2A

Shall the Town of Brookline be allowed to assess an additional $11,983,367 in real estate and personal property taxes for the purposes of funding the costs of Brookline Public Schools ($6,988,367) and funding the costs of additional expenditures in municipal departments
($4,995,000) for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2023?

Question 2B

Shall the Town of Brookline be allowed to assess an additional $__,___,___ in real estate and personal property for the purposes of funding the costs of Brookline Public Schools ($6,988,367), funding the costs of additional expenditures in municipal departments ($4,995,000), and funding the costs of a municipal composting collection service ($__,___,___) for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2023?

Question 3

Shall the Town of Brookline adopt the following changes to the Town’s General Bylaws that would limit the number of Storefront Marijuana Retailer licenses to no more than four, consistent with Warrant Article 15 of the November 2022 Special Town Meeting?

TOWN COUNSEL SUMMARY:
If passed, this local ballot question would limit the number of storefront marijuana retailer licenses in the Town to four or less. The November 2022 Special Town Meeting passed this proposed bylaw as Warrant Article 15. State law requires that the Town of Brookline voters decide whether to adopt this bylaw change. General Laws, c. 94G, § 3(e).

The license cap will stay unchanged for all other license types. These other license types include marijuana delivery operators, social consumption retailers, and marijuana couriers. The present license cap for each license type equals 20% of the number of liquor licenses for off-premises alcohol consumption that the Select Board has issued. Today, the cap is five.

TEXT OF THE BYLAW: Section 8.37.4 Caps on the Number Select Board Licenses for Marijuana Retailers
The Select Board shall not issue more Marijuana Establishment licenses in each of the following categories of Marijuana Establishment licenses than the number that is 20% of the number of liquor licenses for off-premises alcohol consumption that have been issued by the Select Board pursuant to M.G.L. c. 138, §15, as rounded up to the nearest whole number in the event the number is a fraction: a) Marijuana Delivery Operators, b) Social Consumption Retailers, and c) Marijuana Couriers. The Select Board shall not issue more than four Storefront Marijuana Retailer licenses.