GUILDERLAND — The Guilderland Town Board is re-examining its decision  to prohibit retail sales and on-site consumption of marijuana in town. 

During the March 15 town board meeting, Supervisor Peter Barber said after the town opted out in October, two new members — Amanda Beedle and Christine Napierski — joined the board in November, and “six months later, I thought it’d be appropriate to take a look at it because the legislation does allow boards to opt back in after opting out.”

A public hearing was set for April 5 at 7 p.m., on a proposed local law that would allow marijuana retail dispensaries in town. 

Councilwoman Laurel Bohl voted against holding the hearing.

She said, “I just kind of think it’s putting the cart before the horse to start the hearing process to allow retail dispensaries before we have the regulation in place.” She asked that the board wait until the regulations are in place before re-examining the local law. 

Barber noted there’d been a change in governors and “the approach to empowering the Cannabis Review Board has changed dramatically.” It’s also a dollars-and-cents issue: “We will not be receiving any of the sales-tax revenue from it unless we opt in,” Barber said.

According to the state, the 4-percent tax that goes to the locality where the dispensary is located is apportioned based on sales — 1 percent is retained by the county and 3 percent goes to, or gets divided by, the municipality or municipalities with dispensaries.

During the first six months of 2020, individual retail dispensaries averaged daily sales of about $8,600, according to data compiled by three companies operating in different parts of the cannabis industry: wholesale, retail, and employment. 

This year, the state comptroller doesn’t expect any statewide marijuana consumption taxes to be collected; an earlier projection put that figure at about $20 million. Over the next three fiscal years, expected statewide adult-use marijuna tax revenues are expected to climb to $56 million, $115 million, and $158 million, respectively — down from the October 2021 estimate of $115 million, $158 million, and $245 million, respectively.

With nearly all its neighbors allowing dispensaries, Napierski made the argument Guilderland didn’t want to get left in the lurch with something that’s “going to be big business.”

Beedle was fearful that, if the town didn’t take up the local law, it might “lose the window of time as far as the amount of licenses that come out.”

Resident Robyn Gray echoed Bohl’s sentiment. 

“There still are no guidelines,” she said. “So what’s the rush to go ahead and opt in?”

Gray pointed to the 330-respondent survey conducted by the town, which found approximately 71 percent supported marijuana dispensaries in town but were almost evenly split when it came to on-site consumption.

“So you want to overturn this based on less than 200 people making a decision?” she asked. 

The 330 respondents is still significantly more than the handful of residents who spoke during recent hearings on the matter.