03-13-2019 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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STAFF REPORT TO:Mayor Keis and Members of City Council FROM:Heidi Heller, City Clerk DATE:March 13, 2019 RE:Public Hearing to Consider an Increase in Liquor License Fees ACTION TO BE CONSIDERED: Hold Public Hearing and discuss an increase in Liquor License Fees. BACKGROUND: In 2006, the City Council declared that increases in On-Sale Liquor License and On-Sale Wine License Fees would be tied to annual gross levy increases for five years. This five-year plan went through 2010, but the Council has continued to use this basis for liquor license increases every year since. The gross levy increase was 3% in 2015, 2.37% in 2016, 2.88% in 2017 and 6.95% for 2018, although in 2018 Council opted to only increase the Liquor License Fees by 3% due to the unusually high levy increase. A continuation of this practice would result in the following increase for 2019: 2017 2018 Proposed 2019 On-Sale Liquor License $4,981 $5,130 $5,284 On-Sale Liquor License – Billiard Halls only $1,000 $1,030 $1,061 On-Sale Wine License $719 $741 $763 *Per State Statute, the fee for an on-sale wine license cannot exceed half of the license fee charged for an on-sale liquor license, or $2,000, whichever is less. The following liquor license fees are regulated by State Law, and Little Canada is at the maximum it can charge for these fees: On-Sale Sunday $200 Off-Sale Liquor License $310 or $210 if State conditions are met The State conditions are as follows, and all three conditions must be met: 1.The licensee agrees to have a private vendor train all employees within 60 days of hire and annually thereafter in laws pertaining to the sale of alcohol, the rules for identification checks, and the responsibilities of establishments serving intoxicating liquors; 2.The licensee agrees to post a policy requiring identification checks for all persons appearing to be 30 years old or less; and, 3.A cash award and incentive program is established by the licensee, to award employees who catch underage drinkers, and a penalty program is established to punish employees in the event of a failed compliance check. None of the city’s off-sale liquor license holders have taken advantage of the $100 discount.