Bill Purports To Address Revenue Problems Should Montgomery County Get Out of Alcohol Business

Steve Burns
WMAL.com

ANNAPOLIS – (WMAL) A new bill in Annapolis hopes to push Montgomery County along in getting out of the liquor business, purporting to solve issues of lost revenue county officials have discussed in the past. Delegate Bill Frick’s (D-Montgomery) bill enables the County to sell its 25 liquor stores, sell its wholesale beer distribution rights, and restructure the state’s alcohol tax revenue so increases would be given to counties.

“It gives the County the ability to sell its 25 retail stores,” Frick told WMAL. “They would presumably have a value to new buyers if the County wanted to get out of that business.”

The bigger part of his plan, he said, is a reorganization of the state’s alcohol tax revenue.

“We have proposed sharing growth in the sales tax with local jurisdictions, knowing that if we do these reforms, there will be that growth,” Frick said. “That way the state will see some benefit but the counties will also see some benefit.”

He anticipates an increase in alcohol business in Montgomery County with the Department of Liquor Control gone, as anecdotally, he said, customers go to D.C. or Virginia to purchase alcohol that cannot be found in Montgomery County. However, he said, there would be a corresponding decrease to the state general fund should more tax revenue be distributed to counties.

“Everyone’s got essentially a similar potential benefit and a similar concern with respect to the state coffers,” Frick said. “I think Montgomery County would see the most benefit because so many of our sales are headed out of state.”

“I don’t think it fully replaces the revenue we would lose, and I don’t know what its chances are of passing the whole Legislature,” County Councilmember George Leventhal told WMAL. “I don’t really envision the other 23 counties going along with a tax to benefit Montgomery County.”

Leventhal characterized Frick’s bill as a short-term fix to a long-term problem.

“We need a plan to deal with this long-term debt of the County, and Mr. Frick hasn’t offered that,” he said. “I think we’re going to get our revenue taken away from us, handed to the liquor industry, and get nothing in return. I don’t think that’s fair for the people I represent.”