The local impact of two issues in front of the legislature was discussed at the Westport Island selectmen’s meeting on Monday, Jan. 29.

Selectman Jerry Bodmer  pointed out that the state’s moratorium on commercial marijuana establishments will expire on Thursday unless the legislature and the governor act before the deadline.

Maine’s voters approved the use of recreational marijuana by ballot in November 2016. Since that time, municipal and state lawmakers have been grappling with the intricacies of implementing the new law.

Garrett Corbin, the state and federal relations legislative advocate for Maine Municipal Association (MMA) told the Wiscasset Newspaper there are a number of “loopholes” in the law’s wording that could cause problems for cities and towns.

He said chief among the concerns is a lack of clarity in the licensing process for would-be operators. While operators need a state license to sell marijuana, approval from local government is needed to secure a state license. Once the moratorium expires, some towns may start to receive requests to approve marijuana businesses.

Presented with a request for a local license, the town would have four alternatives: accept the application but not decide; refuse the application; refuse the application but permit another attempt at a later date; or decide on the application.

Corbin said MMA has heard about potential operators waiting for the moratorium to expire so they can request local approval.

Depending on the outcome of the legislature’s provisions, towns could be at risk for legal action either by an applicant who was denied, or by a resident who does not want approval to be given, Corbin said. He said MMA has recently been seeing a maneuver to circumvent the law by businesses providing “free” marijuana but charging high delivery prices to customers.

MMA is recommending a six-month moratorium so that the state has time to resolve procedural questions and local ordinances can be ready. MMA asks that a legislative vote for a future moratorium would hopefully become retroactive back to the Feb. 1 expiration date.

Another discussion Monday concerned LD 1629 which protects elderly Mainers from tax lien foreclosures.

Kate Dufour, director of state and federal relations for MMA, expressed the organization’s concerns about the new pre- and post-foreclosure requirements in the proposed bill.

Summarizing MMA’s concerns as “shifting the burden from one group of taxpayers to another,” Dufour outlined the financial challenges towns would face in implementing the bill’s provisions.

As she explained to the Wiscasset Newspaper, the bill calls for a town to change its role in the pre-foreclosure process. This would include reviewing all delinquent taxpayers to determine who is age 65 or older, obtaining and paying half the cost of a mediator if a payment plan cannot be determined, providing the taxpayer with information about securing a reverse mortgage and notifying the Department of Health and Human Services if the homeowner has intellectual or physical barriers to paying property taxes.

If the homeowner is 30 days late on a planned payment, the town can foreclose on the property. However, if the elderly homeowner is residing there, no foreclosure could happen until the value of the liens and taxes is at least 50 percent of the appraised value of the home. Sale of foreclosed property would be through a broker, rather than through the commonly used bidding process.

The concern is that the bill’s provisions require the town to provide financial advice and determine a homeowner’s mental or physical health in addition to increasing the costs to municipalities.

Dufour said the current tax foreclosure process is not an overnight event. “Municipalities are very willing to work with their residents. We don’t want to be property managers; we want to work to keep people in their homes.”

She said MMA endorses revenue-sharing with the municipalities and that a 2010 change in the percentage of sales and income tax shared (from five percent to two percent) has meant $580 million has been diverted from Maine’s towns to fund state priorities.

Dufour called attention to LD 1196 which would reinstate the elderly tax deferral and require a non-foreclosing lien on seniors’ property.

“We should be working on reducing the property tax, shifting the burden off the property owners.”

Selectmen also set the annual town meeting for Saturday, June 23.