Lowell officials: cannabis host-community payments and investment income will shrink next year; exemptions and abatements available for taxpayers

Councilor Belinda Duran and residents pressed staff on specific revenue sources and tax relief. Baldwin told the session the hit from changes to cannabis host-community agreements is about $1,000,000 and that the administration had already reduced revenue estimates accordingly.

"It's the hit to the budget's about 1,000,000 dollars, give or take," Baldwin said when explaining the legal and contractual history of host-community payments and court/CCC actions that changed what communities may collect.

Panelists also discussed the effect of spending ARPA funds on investment income: once the one-time ARPA balance was spent on projects the city no longer generated the same interest revenue, which reduced general-fund receipts. Baldwin noted other potential revenue offsets under consideration, including opioid-mitigation payments placed into a special-purpose stabilization fund for related programming.

Several residents asked about property taxes and how to avoid increases. A public attendee asked, "How can you stop increasing my real estate tax?" Baldwin explained that year-to-year tax bills are affected both by the citys levy decision and by changes in individual property assessments, reviewed Proposition 2 nd a half mechanics, and listed existing statutory relief administered by the assessors office (veteran and disability exemptions, income-based exemptions, and the abatement process); he provided the assessors contact (Ellen Bordeaux) for those seeking help.

Staff emphasized that some revenue declines are structural and will require trade-offs between new programs and preserving existing services; they asked residents to share priorities as the FY27 budget is finalized.