City discusses forgiveness of liquor license fees in wake of pandemic

 

[January 08, 2021] 

For the past several weeks the Lincoln City Council has been conducting business with only two meetings per month. The meetings are held on the first and third Monday of each month and include a regular voting session meeting and also a time during the evening when topics may be discussed as they would have been in a Committee of the Whole.

This week, after the voting session was completed, Alderman Kevin Bateman introduced a topic for discussion only.

Bateman wants to do something to assist the bars and restaurants serving alcohol in Lincoln. He said he had an idea, had researched it and didn’t see that anyone anywhere else was doing what he was about to propose.

Bateman said he wanted to look at the businesses in Lincoln with a liquor license and consider making them eligible for forgiveness of their 2021 license fee.

He said that reviewing the list, he had removed the businesses that held Class A package liquor license because coronavirus had not impacted them. He had also removed the businesses that had taken out a liquor license solely for the purpose of acquiring a gaming license.

He had included the special license for the Spirited Republic and license for clubs such as the American Legion, Eagles, and Knights of Columbus.

He said in total, there were 10 businesses who would be eligible from what he was proposing because they had been forced to close and do no business for a great deal of 2020. He estimated that based on the current liquor license fee, to forgive the fees fully would cost the city about $25,000.

Bateman said the topic was up for discussion, but he would like to see an action item on the next meeting agenda on January 18th.

Sam Downs said he wasn’t clear on where Bateman was coming up with his numbers. Downs said there were 29 Class B license holders and to forgive all those fees would be a lot more than $25,000. He said he wondered why these businesses couldn’t just apply for the Business Sustainability Grants that the city had talked about earlier in the evening.

Bateman said that he had taken the 29 and subtracted those businesses that had taken out the license so that they could get the state permit for gaming. He said he wanted to give the break to bars and restaurants that had been forced to close and were truly hurt by coronavirus.

Steve Parrott echoed something said by Downs, and built on it. He didn’t understand why these same businesses have not already applied for the $2,500 grants the city had offered. He said, “It makes me think they don’t need the money.” He went on to say that he wasn’t sure he was on board with this idea at all, but definitely not for the full license amount. He might consider reducing the fee.

City Treasurer Chuck Conzo said that what Bateman was proposing wasn’t ethical. He said that the city should not be the ones to judge why a business purchased a license. He added that if the city decided to give a free year straight across the board, it would cost them about $58,000 in revenue. Conzo said that would be too much to give away. And that it would be better to just offer a discount of some kind to all the businesses.

Bateman said he was opposed to giving the break to package liquor businesses because they hadn’t lost anything, and most had seen sales increase because the bars were closed. He cited the retailers, truck stops, gas stations, and convenience stores saying that they hadn’t lost anything.

In response to Parrott’s question about the businesses not applying for the sustainability grants Bateman said that he knew of at least two of the business owners who would not take what they considered to be government handouts. He also said that there may be those who won’t accept this gift either, insisting on paying the full license fee regardless of the discount.

Ron Keller said he was sure that all the businesses had been hurt by the pandemic. He wondered if the city could review tax records to see how each one had been impacted and “quantify this through tax receipts.”

Keller also wondered if this was not a topic for the city council, but rather for the liquor commission.

Ron Fleshman said he might be in favor of giving a six month discount to all 29 license holders, but he would also want it to go through an application process.

Conzo, speaking to Keller’s question said that yes the city could obtain the tax information for each of the establishments. He noted though that in regard to those who were gaming establishments, the aldermen should bear in mind that those gaming machines were forced to be shut down for a lengthy period of time in 2020.

Acting Mayor Tracy Welch said that he had issues with what was being proposed. He said that moments earlier the city had put a grant program on hold because it didn’t have the money to pay the grants, and now they were considering giving away money. He noted, “It sounds like cherry picking to me.”

Welch also noted that five of the 10 grants put on hold earlier were holding a liquor license and would get help from the city there.

Bateman suggested that the next voting session have a motion to give a 50 percent discount to all 29 of the Class B license holders.

Welch repeated he was not in favor of this saying that the aldermen by vote had just told 10 businesses in Lincoln “they are not important,” and now the city is considering doing this.

Parrott returned to a comment made by Conzo. He said gaming had lost money too, “but we’re not interested in helping them.” Though not a supporter of the video gambling in the city, Parrott noted that it wasn’t fair to leave them out when they too had been hurt.

Welch interjected again, “In every other topic we have to be fair and equal. But here we’re obviously being partial.” He went on to recommend that Bateman take his proposal to the liquor commission and work with them to come up with a suitable plan.

City Administrator Beth Kavelman said that as a ‘point of order’ the entire topic should be taken to the liquor commission as was suggested earlier.

City Clerk Peggy Bateman suggested that each one of the aldermen email the liquor commission and give their position on the matter, so the commission would know how the aldermen felt about all of this.

Welch said that was a good suggestion.

Kavelman and Welch both serve on the liquor commission. Having earlier in the evening made it clear that Kavelman was to work on nothing but the CARES/CURES Act Grant application until it was completed, Welch said that all the emails should come to him. He would then see to it that the full commission received copies.

Before the topic was closed for the evening Fleshman asked if it would then be okay for these liquor licensed establishments to apply for the next round of the $2,500 business sustainability grants. Welch simply replied, “Not in my opinion.”

A meeting of the liquor commission has been called for Friday, January 8th.

Anyone wishing to join the meeting may do so by dialing 312-626-6799. The meeting ID number is 995 5406 7777 and the passcode is 818105.

[Nila Smith]