Commissioners' Support Sought For Calvert Bills
By Christy Goodman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Two bills, one being drafted and one introduced in the Maryland General Assembly, would double fees for beer, wine and liquor licenses in Calvert County.
The legislation, requested by the Calvert County Liquor Board, also would raise license fees for restaurant and bar owners who want to stay open until 2 a.m., and would create a $300 license to allow liquor stores to have more than 12 wine tastings per year.
Also included is an increase in the annual stipend paid to members of the liquor board.
"To the best of my knowledge, there have been no legislative changes [to Calvert's liquor laws] for the past 25 years," Marshall Gibson, chairman of the liquor board, said at Tuesday's regular meeting of the Calvert County commissioners. He asked them to support the bills.
"This is not something we would enact," Commissioners President Wilson H. Parran (D-Huntingtown) said. "The state would enact this." He said the commissioners would pass on their comments to state legislators.
Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert) and Sen. Roy P. Dyson (D-St. Mary's) are co-sponsoring the bill introduced in their chamber.
In the House, the measure is to be introduced by the end of this week. "We have a bill drafted. It has all the support of the entire delegation," said Del. Sue Kullen (D-Calvert). She said she will file the bill once she receives the county commissioners' blessing.
"It is just a way of ensuring everyone is on the same page," she said. "We didn't want a fight in Annapolis on something we can easily fix back home."
Most of what the liquor board has requested was endorsed Tuesday by the commissioners. Commissioner Barbara A. Stinnett (D-At Large) was the sole dissenting vote on the fee portion of the proposal, calling the increases "a very significant jump."
Restaurants and bars now pay $1,000 annually for a license to serve beer, wine and liquor. The board proposed raising that fee to $1,250 if the establishment closes at midnight and to $2,250 if it is open until 2 a.m.
Del. Anthony J. O'Donnell (R-Calvert), the House minority leader, questioned the liquor board's figures. "For those few extra hours of operation, you are paying a heck of a license increase," he said.
Gary Armstrong, owner of CLUCK-U Chicken in Dunkirk, agreed with O'Donnell. "These are small-business owners that have to put out a lot of money in order to be successful. . . . It is already hard enough," he said.
Commissioner Gerald W. "Jerry" Clark (R-Lusby), himself the owner of a Solomons area liquor store, said the new fees will help pay for more police in the late-night hours. "I think this liquor board is trying to be proactive instead of reactive," he said.
The commissioners unanimously supported raising the liquor board chairman's annual stipend to $4,200 from $2,100 per year -- $3,300 less than what the liquor board originally requested. Under the commissioners' plan, liquor board members' stipends would double to $3,600, and alternate members would receive $200 per meeting.
In another unanimous vote, the commissioners opposed a proposal requiring new restaurants to have a minimum capacity of 35 people, or at least $200,000 invested in their building and equipment, to obtain a liquor license.
Those requirements were aimed at ensuring that fast-food restaurants could not serve alcohol, said Gibson. The liquor board chairman also said that any restaurants currently licensed that do not meet the new standard would be grandfathered into the law.
Chris Chubb, co-owner of the Crooked I Sports Bar and Grill in Chesapeake Beach, said he would never be able to start a new restaurant if the proposal passed. "This is really killing mom-and-pops. Anybody who doesn't want to own a chain business is screwed," he said.
New penalties for employees and licensees who sell alcohol to minors also are included in the liquor board's proposal. Gibson said he would ask state legislators to amend their bills to align with the commissioner's recommendations.
Kullen and O'Donnell said citizens can still offer input on the legislation.
"Unless I hear an outcry, I will probably support it," O'Donnell said.
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