Marshfield committee approves alcohol licenses; one approval conditioned on payment of unpaid real estate taxes

The City of Marshfield Judiciary and Licensing Committee on June 17, 2025 approved a slate of temporary and renewal alcohol beverage licenses and voted to approve one combination liquor license only after the applicant brought unpaid real estate taxes current.

Chairperson Barshot presided over the meeting in City Hall Chambers. The committee approved temporary and renewal licenses for events including the Knights of Columbus parish poll at the Central Wisconsin State Fairgrounds on July 11, 2025, and Camp Victory Inc.'s "Battle of the Badges" at Greasy Park on July 16, 2025. The committee also considered a request to amend the premise description for the class B combination license for Jack's Bar, 315 North Central Avenue, for a one-day event on July 12, 2025, and several license renewal applications.

The committee removed one combination-license application from the consent agenda after a staff member told the panel the applicant, Poor Choices, had not paid any of its current-year real estate taxes. The staff member said, "Chairperson Barshot, I do need to pull 1 item from the consent agenda there on the letter c... In this case, Poor Choices has not paid any of the real estate taxes for the current year. So for our code, that should be paid before the license is issued." The staff member advised that, because city approvals and license releases are timed, payment would need to be completed before the city would release a renewed license.

Committee member Mr. Graham moved to approve the pending liquor license on the condition that the applicant bring all current real estate taxes up to date; the motion was seconded by Ms. Frios. As Mr. Graham stated when making the motion, "Motion to approve the liquor license as long as they bring all their back taxes current or previous year taxes current." The motion carried on a voice vote. The staff member noted the applicant's existing license was set to expire June 30 and said, "So they would have to be paid before then... Their current license does expire June 30. So as of right now, if they would not pay before end of business day, June 30, they would not have their license operate starting at midnight tonight. They're aware of this."

Aside from the pulled item and the condition on the license, the committee approved the remainder of the consent agenda. No citizens spoke during the public-comment portion; committee members moved to adjourn shortly after the votes.

The committee did not adopt additional conditions or create follow-up assignments during the meeting; council action is scheduled next week for final issuance of the licenses and staff will withhold issuance until any required tax payments are confirmed.