Liquor license fees in Bloomington may see an increase as part of the city's cost recovery efforts. The amount license holders pay has not gone up since 1982. Currently, it costs anywhere from $550 to $2,200 for a liquor license, depending on what type.
Mayor Tari Renner, also serving as Liquor Commissioner, says the city's costs have increased since then. "One of the things that has certainly gone up, dramatically, is liquor enforcement issues. And, that is, liquor enforcement in our city for police officers, for police officers' salaries and pensions and healthcare. And for cop cars and cameras. And, frankly, when we have hearings."
Renner says hearings alone end up costing more than what the city charges for liquor licenses. "Court reporters come in, that costs us hundreds and hundreds of dollars. We have attorneys come in to represent on the side, that's actually thousands of dollars that it costs us, even for one single event. So the city taxpayers have been footing the bill for the increases."
Phil Boulds, owner of Mugsy's Pub, was the only one to address the Liquor Commission during the public comment portion of the meeting. He said the city is getting enough money already. "You just got a 1% sales tax increase overall for everything you sell in the city. My business alone, without going into a whole lot of detail, you're going to get probably about another $1500 a month out of me, which is $18 thousand a year. How much money do you guys need?"
The commission is also looking at the liquor license fee increases to provide more funding for police hireback during the busy hours in downtown Bloomington. That proposal was brought forward by the Budget Task Force last year. The City Council saw multiple options to fund the program, with one of the options calling for a liquor license fee increase for only downtown bars.
Renner says that option isn't likely. "That can't happen. We cannot get $130 thousand from a small number of licensees in downtown for all kinds of reasons. It's just not viable."
Other options presented to the council include a citywide liquor license fee increase, adding fees for bars who want to stay open until 2 a.m., or keeping things the way they are.
Jan Lancaster, who owns The Bistro in downtown Bloomington, says bar owners have suggested other ways to pay for the hireback program, and the meeting was a good starting point to bring those options to the table. "There's a lot of things that are in the mix right now, and I think this is just the initial discussion on it."
The Liquor Commission meets next month, where they will bring their ideas to recover costs for liquor enforcement and the downtown hireback program. They’re also looking at adding a fee that would charge business owners for each video gambling machine they operate.
Renner says they don't have a specific plan in mind yet, but it has to be spread out over a number of years. "Whatever this is has to be modest, and it would [be] phased in over two or three years. Again, it could be something like a 10% increase year one, year two, and then something for video poker machines. Maybe there's an extra increment for people who are open till 2 a.m."
A specific timeframe for sending fee increase proposals to the Bloomington City Council for approval has not been set.