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Marketplace Foods urges city to set issuance fee for new off-sale liquor license
Summary
Marketplace Foods told the council that creating a new retail off-sale liquor license without an issuance fee disadvantages existing businesses; the speaker cited Grand Forks and Fargo issuance fees as comparative examples.
Jessica Klein, speaking for Marketplace Foods, told the council she is not opposed to creating a separate retail off-sale license but objected to the council proposing to issue that license with a $0 issuance fee in the preliminary budget. She said other North Dakota cities set substantial issuance fees — "Grand Forks requires an issuance fee of approximately $42,560, and Fargo requires an issuance fee of $90,000" — and argued a zero fee shifts regulatory costs onto incumbent businesses.
Council members acknowledged that the preliminary budget currently does not include new issuance fees and said the final rate structure will be part of the October rate-resolution process. "Our preliminary budget doesn't contemplate anything whatsoever in regards to those fees," one council member told Klein; the council will consider fee resolutions during the final budget process.
