The Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control Board compromised Thursday on a proposed fee increase intended to help pay for a new liquor warehouse and administrative offices in Montgomery.
The board also discussed the mass shooting in downtown Montgomery Saturday and ABC Administrator Curtis Stewart said the agency is complying with Gov. Kay Ivey’s request to review alcohol related policies.
Fee increase
The three-member board approved raising the fee liquor suppliers pay on each case of their product stored in an ABC warehouse from 72 cents to $1 starting in January.
The original proposal would have raised the fee in three increments to $1.50 by 2028.
The board agreed on Thursday to revisit the fee and possible changes next year.
As originally proposed, the increase would have generated about $3 million per year to help pay for the $98 million warehouse and office space under construction now.
Board member John Knight, who last month delayed a vote on the increase, asked Thursday if there were any other options. He said he was worried about a tax increase on businesses.
Stewart said Alabama is one of 10 alcohol control states with what are known as bailment fees.
“Ours is the lowest,” he said.
It was established in 2013 and hasn’t been raised since.
The fee increase and the new building haven’t required legislative approval, but have caught the attention of some who said they’d been told the new warehouse, being built by the Retirement Systems of Alabama, would be paid for through the agency’s operating expenses.
Officials with ABC for years have said their current rented warehouse space in Montgomery, from which almost all liquor sold in the state is shipped, is too small and outdated to meet demand. New automation systems at the 250,000-square-foot space will allow ABC to reduce its workforce through attrition.
Knight on Thursday asked Stewart if the project was on schedule and under budget.
Stewart said it was ahead of schedule and on track for the revised budget approved before construction began.
Roofing is now going on portions of the building set to open late next summer.
Montgomery shooting
Stewart said the agency this week is reviewing alcohol-related laws and enforcement in Montgomery following a shooting in the city’s downtown late Saturday. Two people were fatally shot and 12 others were injured.
In a Monday statement about the shooting, Ivey said she asked Stewart to review laws, expectations and requirements regarding entities licensed to sell alcohol, specifically those in highly populated and heavily traveled areas as well as for special events where the sale and consumption of alcohol is taking place after 5 p.m. in Montgomery.
“At some point, there will be something to report in terms of the requests that the governor made, but there is nothing to report on that yet,” Stewart said.
City officials earlier this week suspended the downtown Montgomery entertainment district. Montgomery is one of several cities in the state with designated areas where alcoholic beverages purchased from licensed vendors can be carried in the streets.