WHITMAN — Selectmen are referring a proposal for a moratorium on recreational marijuana dispensaries through at least June 30, 2018 to the Planning Board for evaluation and public hearing.

After a hearing the Planning Board would return its recommendations back to the Board of Selectmen for possible presentation to a Town Meeting.

The Tuesday, Feb. 14 vote came one month after the board voted in favor of a letter of support/non-opposition to a medical marijuana grow site in town. The moratorium would be based on a West Bridgewater law passed in December, and is designed to provide more time to develop zoning and other regulations compatible with state laws.

Town Administrator Frank Lynam had assigned Assistant Town Administrator Lisa Green to explore the issue of a moratorium and its legal ramifications. Lynam is also asking the Zoning Board of Appeals to look at potential zoning districts to encompass such businesses in the event the town ever permits them. That, too, would require public hearings.

“I’m going to look at it,” Lynam said of the zoning issue. “We may not do it this year, but a moratorium will give us time to address it before our next Town Meeting.”

He stressed the zoning issue is separate from a moratorium.

“This is not a proposal to bring in dispensaries,” he said. “It’s a recommendation that we look at the reality that they may come down the road, and if they do, we will at least be prepared.”

Green said the town had learned in January that the state Attorney General’s office had approved West Bridgewater’s marijuana moratorium draft.

“That’s where we took a lot of our language,” Green said of the Whitman proposal. “Where it had already been approved by the Attorney General, we didn’t have any feelings that they would not approve our moratorium.”

Green noted both communities are similar to each other.

Selectman Daniel Salvucci asked if the town could vote against permitting dispensaries in Whitman.

Green conceded that, if a medical marijuana grow site does open in town, it does open a door for possible future dispensaries by applying for a permit.

“Medical marijuana is protected by state law and permissive zoning,” Lynam said. “Recreational marijuana requires an approval and the … licenses may be issued, but must be less than the number of medical marijuana licenses.”

Should one medical marijuana grow site actually open — and no others — that would effectively bar any recreational dispensaries.

“Less than one is none,” Lynam said.

“It says it may not be issued as well,” Selectmen Chairman Dr. Carl Kowalski said.

“This is al still new to the state, as well,” Green said. “The state is still weeding through what it’s going to do.”

Selectman Brian Bezanson pointed out that it took the state quite a while — two years — just to get the medical marijuana regulations ironed out.

capital budgets

Selectmen also heard a presentation on available cash for capital needs, as Lynam recommended limiting the use of one-time funds from a recent personal property windfall to one-time capital projects instead of for recurring costs.

“In the last two years we have been experiencing some unusual types of growth,” Lynam said. “I’ve received a number of calls from people regarding how and why we appropriate and provide money for various town operations, including schools.”

He used a PowerPoint presentation to outline “how we got to where we are today and where I think we’re going.”

Lynam outlined how property valuations over the past four years, with personal property values jumping significantly — from $30,298,858 in 2015 to $98,159,363 in 2016 only to begin declining again by about $4 million in 2017 — based on a National Grid property’s tax status.

“It’s a double-edged sword,” Lynam said. “Because it’s personal property, it’s not an asset that continues to grow. Over the next several years, it will be depreciated and depleted on the tax books of the power company, and the results will be that they’re sending us valuations that are dropping anywhere from $5 [million] to $8 million a year.”

The levy limit each year is calculated by adding 2 ½ percent, new growth and any overrides. By 2016 the personal property growth showed up after the budgets had been passed for the year, Lynam said. It ended up offsetting the capital exclusion for technology upgrades in the schools.

Growth decreased from $1,328,292 in 2016 to $261,670 in 2017. Based on that history, Lynam has worked out proforma calculations for fiscal 2018 putting the 2017 levy limit at $23,982,789, setting aside almost $1 million in capital money from amended 2016 growth, then adding $599,570 as the 2 ½ percent increase and $275,000 in new growth.

“We are going to see is the reduction, once again, in the personal property tax,” he said. “This year, I think it will be closer to $6 million.”

By using the entire projected $24,857,359 for the general budget, a problem is created in that the personal property figure is going to continue to go down each year, Lynam argued.

“What I’m suggesting is that we treat the levy as if that money were not available to us … and use the additional $1 million to fund capital needs this year,” he said. “What I see happening is, each year that money’s going to continue to go down. Unless we find a significant source of new revenue, we’re going to have to live with those numbers.”

Salvucci agreed that using one-time money for the regular budget is fiscally irresponsible.

In other business, the board voted to table a discussion on the Planning Board’s request to reduce its membership from seven to five. Any change would require a Town Meeting warrant article to change the bylaw, and perhaps on the ballot since the positions are elected.

Lynam said the board’s chairman had indicated he has had trouble getting a quorum for some meetings and that perhaps reducing the board to five might help.

“But, as I understand it, the board is now at full strength, or certainly will be at the May elections because the vacancy has already been applied for and nomination papers,” Lynam said, recommending the postponement until the Planning Board can discuss it further.

Salvucci said appeals to the public on Facebook has prompted more interest for taking out nomination papers for the Planning Board, making a bylaw change unnecessary.

Taking a ‘serious look’ at costs

Falling revenues and increasing costs may force some drastic changes in the Whitman-Hanson Regional School District, School Committee members, residents and officials from both towns have been warned.

School Committee Chairman Bob Hayes said the panel will have to “take a serious look” at how the district operates and may have to consider eliminating high school athletics, closing the Maquan School and consolidating those students into Hanson’s Indian Head School, staff layoffs and double sessions to save money.

“All of those things are on the table,” Hayes said. “This is not ‘we keep coming to you and crying wolf,’ this is serious. Every year it gets worse and worse and worse.”

Hayes said the district is just beginning of the process as a proposed level-service budget for fiscal 2018, that is $2.7 million in the red, was rolled out at the Wednesday, Feb. 1 School Committee meeting. That hole is due to a $1.8 million increase in expenses and a revenue shortfall of more than $800,000. That is a combined revenue decrease of 1.5 percent.

W-H’s per-pupil expenditure of $11,703 is 11th from the bottom of spending among all districts in the state and both towns remain below target share, a figure that the state has looked to since 2011 as it determines Chapter 70 aid levels. W-H now receives 63 percent of its funding from state aid. The state average for per-pupil spending is $14,935

Declining enrollment in both towns can also have an impact of state aid levels, according to Superintendent of Schools Dr. Ruth Gilbert-Whitner.

She said the budget includes a level-service proposal of $48,937,127. The increase in the budget’s bottom line — not to be confused with operating assessments to towns — is $1,857,987 or 3.95 percent.

Gilbert-Whitner said the FY 2018 budget needs to provide the 21st century education students deserve, rather than the education of the 1950s or ’60s, in very challenging fiscal times. Critical thinking, communication and technology skills are part of that.

“We have to come up with an assessment,” Hayes said. “Obviously, some of this [deficit] may get erased with new state funding. It may get worse. We’re going to have to take some serious looks at some serious issues.”

Business Services Director Christine Suckow said assessments based on a level-funded formula, because of enrollment shifts, would see Hanson’s assessment go down $162,000 and Whitman go up by the same amount.

Last year, the committee voted to transfer almost $950,000 out of excess and deficiency, an account intended for emergency expenses not for balancing the budget, Hayes noted. That account has been replenished to $1,246,484 due to end-of-year savings in utilities, insurance and special education.

“When you keep hitting E&D — and we’ve been doing that for several years — it’s a very, very dangerous, slippery slope that you can go down,” he cautioned. “You just pray for the rest of the year that nothing happens.”

State representatives Josh Cutler, D-Hanson, and Geoff Diehl, R-Whitman, and Rick Branca, an aide to state Sen. Mike Brady, D-Brockton, attended to give an overview of state budget implications for the W-H budget. [See related story]

District health insurance costs continue to strain the budget, Gilbert-Whitner said.

Strategic goals

The district again provided cost estimates for universal all-day kindergarten — at an estimated $400,000. That possibility is among the strategic action plans involving three pillars: healthy bodies/healthy minds; a cohesive PreK-12 curriculum and safe and secure schools; approved by the committee in September.

One-to-one devices such as ChromeBooks and iPads were also part of that discussion.

The action plans were points of discussion proposed for the Feb. 15 School Committee meeting, and have not been totaled into the fiscal 2018 budget.

Parents are now charged $3,200 a year per student for all-day kindergarten, which 82.1 percent of Massachusetts school districts provide at no cost. W-H’s half-day program is free.

There is also a request in the action plan for $300,000 over three years — $100,000 per year — for more classroom sets of one-to-one devices throughout the school system.

Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources Patrick Dillon argued the devices could be used to continue educating students in another school’s gym if a school building had to be temporarily closed. They can also be valuable as standardized testing becomes more digital, he said.

“I only have three ChromeBook carts in the building for 1,200 students — all through fundraising through the Panther Education Trust,” WHRHS Principal Jeffrey Szymaniak added.

School Committee member Fred Small suggested funding the devices through a capital request to help them survive budget cuts.

Non-mandated busing — transportation provided within 1.5 miles of a school and not required by law — is not reimbursed. W-H has about 1,000 non-mandated riders and 2,000 mandated, according to Suckow.

More than $1 million could be saved by eliminating busing from the budget completely, Suckow said in response to a question from Hayes. The district must provide transportation for homeless students who must stay in out-of-district shelters, however, under the federal McKinney-Vento Act adopted by the state of Massachusetts. The state under-funds that program, school officials said.

Going to all-day kindergarten would pare about $64,000 from the transportation costs by eliminating a mid-day bus run, Gilbert-Whitner said. She also pointed out that hospitalizations of students for anxiety-related illnesses are still rising and social workers provided at the elementary schools are funded by a grant that runs out June 30.

The high school program for at-risk students is supported by a grant that is also starting to go away.

A licensed social worker, who is also the parent of a Conley School student, said she was concerned to see high school sports coaches receiving a $63,000 raise while social workers in the schools are a greater need. The budget only adds about $6,000 for social workers.

Another parent argued social workers lower special education out-of-district costs.

“If you look at kids today, they’re facing a lot different challenges that we just never thought of when we were growing up,” Small agreed. “We’ve got fourth- and fifth-graders cutting themselves. … I know if I hadn’t heard [of] it, and seen it, I’d be oblivious to it.”

The district received $1.6 million in grants for the 2016-17 school year, not including a $20,000 grant recently received for safe and supportive schools. Grants fund nearly 85 positions in the district.

The elementary grades science curriculum is completely funded by a foundation, with the district responsible for consumable supporting materials.

state funds

Added state funding from local legislators’ efforts, which increased per-pupil funding to $55 each in state aid last year, allowed the district to hire four library assistants in the elementary schools. The district posted a job opening for a librarian to oversee them, but have not been able to find a qualified candidate. Retired high school librarian Kathy Gabriel has returned under a stipend to provide professional development for the four library assistants, Gilbert-Whitner said.

In the district-wide budget, the assistant superintendent for teaching and learning position has been cut in view of increased responsibilities for the director of curriculum positions.

Director of Science Curriculum Mark Stephansky argued for more up-to-date teaching materials for state standards that require more hands-on learning, and noted that the current eighth-grade textbook, copyrighted in 2000, has a picture of a space shuttle on the cover. NASA ended that program in 2011.

“That predates three standards,” he said, adding that now only half the curriculum is from a textbook. The other half is online. He advocates a curriculum materials upgrade that includes seven years of online access.

One parent asked that the school committee retain the $200,000 in the district budget so the new textbooks do not get cut.

“Knowing that my son laughs that Pluto is still mentioned [as a planet] in one of his science books, it’s really a concern,” she said. “We will not be able to have our students achieve at higher levels unless we have current information in front of them.”

Legislators offer state insight

State representatives Josh Cutler, D-Hanson, and Geoff Diehl, R-Whitman, along with Rick Branca, an aide to state Sen. Mike Brady, D-Brockton, attended the Wednesday, Feb.1 School Committee meeting to provide an overview of state budget implications for the W-H budget.

Diehl outlined Gov. Charlie Baker’s budget as it pertained to the district school budget.

Added state funding from local legislators’ efforts, which increased per-pupil funding to $55 each in state aid last year, allowed the district to hire four library assistants in the elementary schools.  They are looking to new legislation as a more permanent solution to the funding need.

“We’d like to replicate that this year, but don’t hold your breath,” Diehl said, noting that this year, Gov. Baker is back to asking for $20. “I think you’ll see the House increase that number and, usually, the Senate tends to have an increase beyond that. The horse-trading has really yet to start.”

Cutler explained that where last year’s success in increasing the per-pupil funding had support from 71 co-sponsors, that is the only way regional schools can obtain Chapter 70 increases.

“I want to credit you for kind of lighting the fire,” Cutler said. “We would have done our jobs anyway, but we understood what a challenging situation it was and we took that message out and spread it through the legislature.”

This year they are going to try to replicate it, but Cutler said they know they don’t want to have to try doing so every year.

That’s were a small language change proposed in the language of MGL Chapter 70 Section 2, would require a $50 per pupil minimum. The temporary House Docket No. is 3156 until the legislation is assigned a permanent bill number in about two weeks.

“It’s not a crazy idea, because it used to be that way,” Cutler said. “Obviously when times are good, we’d like to see that figure go even higher, but at least we’d have that minimum brought up from where it was before.”

Cutler said a good cross-section of South Shore legislators have already signed onto the bill.

Branca said Brady would work on behalf of the bill on the Senate side.

Diehl added that casinos, approved in 2011 and the recreational marijuana law, both passed with the intention of adding funds to the education budget, would not provide assistance for a few more years. The marijuana law won’t even be in effect until 2018.

He explained the hold was placed by the Legislature to adjust tax regulations and address public safety concerns about enforcement, using Colorado as a model.

“I wouldn’t expect them to be a potential revenue savior for awhile, if at all,” Diehl said.

Superintendent of Schools Dr. Ruth Gilbert-Whitner also expressed concern about transportation costs under chapter 71. Non-mandated busing — transportation provided within 1.5 miles of a school and not required by law — is not reimbursed.

The allocation was already down by $110,000 in the governor’s budget, she said. Subject to appropriation, the reimbursement is supposed to be 100 percent.

“We haven’t seen that since 2007,” she said. “If we did not have to transport students, we would then be able to charge — whether people would like that or not, I don’t know.”

She said it is not unusual at the high school to see, at the second half of the school year, the buses are not full as students earn drivers’ licenses or stay for sports.

“A lot of money goes out for bus transportation for buses that are not full,” Gilbert-Whitner said.

Cutler said, while he can’t predict dollars, the House bill will be better. Diehl also cautioned there are also pending 9C cuts.