Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Alcohol Licensing topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Waterproof council begins phased update of alcohol license and fee schedule
Summary
City staff presented a phased proposal to update Waterproof’s business fee schedule, including new alcohol licensing categories and temporary-license limits; council members asked for more data on current receipts and exemptions tied to state caps.
Waterproof city staff began a multi-phase update of the city’s fee schedule Monday, presenting proposed changes to alcohol licensing that would add new categories, align some fees with neighboring municipalities and set limits on temporary permits.
City Administrator Gil Morris told the council the review is being done in phases and that staff surveyed nearby communities — including Monroe and Covington — to compare license types and amounts. "We're doing also a survey at the same time with some surrounding cities in our area that are comparable," Morris said.
Why it matters: licensing fees affect local businesses' start-up costs and ongoing operating expenses, and changes could increase revenue for the city if adopted. The city has not updated many fees since the 1980s, Morris said, and staff wants to reduce administrative burden while modernizing categories.
Key proposals and discussion points: staff presented separate fees for wholesale, retail (beer and wine), package stores and on-premises consumption. For package stores, council members noted a common statewide cap and that many nearby municipalities set the package-store fee at the statutory maximum; a council member said, "that is the max by state law charge for a license." Morris said temporary on-premises licenses would remain limited to a maximum of 10 days per calendar year under the proposed schedule, and the city added a per-day temporary-license option to improve tracking.
Council members asked for clearer revenue projections. One council member asked how current receipts compared to the proposed fees; staff said the city has collected about $7.50 in beer-and-wine license receipts so far this fiscal year and about $1,700 in package-store receipts, which prompted follow-up questions about whether those figures represent full licenses or partial-year activity. Morris said some existing fees had not been updated since 1986.
Other technical items discussed included separate brewery and catering/hotel-service fees used by neighboring cities, thresholds for classifying a business as a restaurant (food-sales percentage), and the effect of wholesale license fees being borne by wholesalers and passed to consumers.
No formal vote was taken on any fee changes. Staff said it will return with additional analysis, updated revenue estimates and draft ordinance language for council review in upcoming meetings.
