New Bedford's $2.90 cigar minimum is back before a council committee Nov. 17, with four city appointments
The cigar motions, referred in early 2025, were tabled again Oct. 20. The Health Department says youth sales in its compliance checks fell from 21 in 2022 to nine in 2024.
NEW BEDFORD City councilors' push to get New Bedford's Board of Health to drop its $2.90 minimum price for a single cigar returns to a council committee Tuesday, Nov. 17, nearly two years after the rule took effect.
The Committee on Appointments and Briefings meets at 7 p.m. in the City Council Chambers, Room 214, at City Hall, 133 William St. The council cannot change the rule itself. Board of Health regulations are the board's to adopt and amend, and the motions ask the board to act and its staff to appear. The same agenda carries four of Mayor Jon Mitchell's appointments to city boards.
What the cigar rule does
Under the Board of Health's tobacco regulation, no one may sell a single cigar for less than $2.90, or a factory package of two or more cigars for less than $5.80. The board may raise those amounts by amendment to follow the Consumer Price Index. The Health Department says the board passed the updated regulation unanimously on Oct. 21, 2024, and set it to take effect Jan. 1, 2025.
The regulation also caps tobacco sales permits. It lists 127 active permits as of its effective date, and any permit that is surrendered, revoked or not renewed is retired. New permits are barred within 500 feet of an elementary or secondary school or of another permitted store.
What councilors are asking
Two motions are on the agenda. One, referred in January 2025 from Councilors Abreu, Oliver, Lopes, Choquette and Carney, asks the board to explain the cigar rule and asks the committee to hear from local stores that sell cigars about the economic impact. The other, referred in February 2025 from nine councilors, asks the board to "immediately rescind" the rule and to seek grant money so the Health Department can keep educating young people about tobacco and step up enforcement at stores. The committee has tabled the first motion three times, on Feb. 18, 2025, Feb. 17, 2026, and Oct. 20, 2026, and the second twice, on Feb. 17 and Oct. 20 of this year.
Invited are Health Director Stephanie Sloan, Public Health Program Manager Mark Galan, a representative of the mayor's office and Peter Brennan, executive director of the New England Convenience Store and Energy Marketers Association.
The Health Department's case
A Health Department summary attached to the agenda says 193 Massachusetts communities, home to 75% of the state's people, have minimum cigar pricing. It says 80% of New Bedford stores sold single cigars in fiscal 2022, the cheapest at 79 cents.
| Year | Youth compliance checks | Sales to minors | Share of checks |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 142 | 21 | 15% |
| 2023 | 227 | 24 | 11% |
| 2024 | 111 | 9 | 8% |
All three years of checks came before the cigar rule took effect. The summary says 80% of the youth requests in 2022 were for cigarillos, and that the department runs one or two checks per store a year. It cites state data putting New Bedford sixth highest for smoking among 200 reporting communities, and a lung cancer rate it lists as 69.8 for New Bedford, against 59.2 for the state.
Four appointments
The committee is also set to hear four of the mayor's appointments, referred by the council Oct. 22: Donald G. Rei to the Housing Authority, replacing the late Bruce Oliveira, for a term ending December 2027; Madeline Paiva to the library trustees, replacing Lee Blake, who resigned, through April 2028; Thomas P. Clark to the Water Board, replacing Daniel Higgins, who resigned, through April 2027; and Eric V. LePage as an alternate on the Zoning Board of Appeals, replacing Jane Gonsalves, who resigned, through December 2029.
Also listed: a meeting with Southcoast Neighbors United on air sensors across the city and health concerns in the South End, with a request that the Board of Health bring data on chronic illness on the peninsula; a Clarks Point Neighborhood Association request for a solar beacon on the Fort Taber lighthouse; and up to 30 minutes of public comment, with one resident signed up to speak on license plate reader technology.
How to weigh in
Councilor Naomi Carney chairs the committee. Meetings are open, streamed live and recorded, and linked from the city's homepage under Quick Links, then Meetings. The City Council office is at 508-979-1455. The Health Department's summary lists the board's public hearing on the rule as Sept. 19, 2024; any change to the regulation would go back to the Board of Health.
Label: Reported by us, from the town's posted records.
Notes
Every fact comes from the committee agenda the city posted for Nov. 17, the Board of Health regulation and the Health Department summary attached to it, and the council's 2026 committee assignments. We read them on Nov. 6, 2026. The regulation is a scanned document; we read the cigar section on the page. The agenda gives some councilors' last names only, and we use them as the city printed them. We checked each date and weekday against a calendar. We are asking Health Director Stephanie Sloan and committee Chair Naomi Carney for comment and will add their answers.
Corrections
No corrections to this story. If something here is wrong, tell us. Every correction is dated on the story and listed in our public log.
Sources (5)
- City of New Bedford: Committee on Appointments and Briefings agenda, Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2026, 7 p.m.Items 1 to 9: public comment, four appointments (Matter IDs 1768 to 1771), cigar motions 0114, 0115 and 0230 with tabling history, SCNU air sensors, Fort Taber beacon. Read Nov. 6, 2026.
- New Bedford Board of Health: Regulation Restricting the Sale of Tobacco and Nicotine Delivery Products (attached to agenda item 6a)Scanned, 22 pages. Section G (cigar minimum prices $2.90 and $5.80, CPI adjustment), permit cap of 127, 500-foot density rule. Read Nov. 6, 2026.
- New Bedford Health Department: 2025 Tobacco Regulation Update (attached to agenda item 6)Adoption Oct. 21, 2024, effective Jan. 1, 2025; hearing Sept. 19, 2024; compliance check figures 2022 to 2024; 193 communities; state data on smoking rate and lung cancer. Read Nov. 6, 2026.
- City of New Bedford: City Council and committee meetings list (Granicus)Upcoming meeting dates, including City Council Nov. 24, 2026, 7 p.m. Read Nov. 6, 2026.
- City of New Bedford: City Council Committee Assignments 2026Councilor Carney chairs Appointments and Briefings. Read Nov. 6, 2026.