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Show A Rough Time Was Had By All Beer Hearing Draws Raucous Crowd; Few Solutions Found The City Council listened to an often stormy crowd protest a proposed tax on retail beer sales during a Dec. 2 hearing at the Memorial Building that featured shouting and some hot tempers. The emotional issue drew a crowd that packed the hearing room while City Manager Arlene Loble explained that she was recommending the beer tax in the face of a budget deficit that could reach $240,000 for the current fiscal year. Loble said she wanted the council to pass the tax by Christmas. ; ; The controversial measure would place a 3 cent tax on every 10 ounces of beer sold in the city, whether by draught, or in bottles and cans. - Opposition to the tax was strong, with city residents, restaurant, club and tavern owners and representatives from the beer wholesalers and The Private Club Association speaking against the proposal. At one point, City Council woman Helen Alvarez was shouted down by the audience for stating that the people in the hearing room who opposed the tax ...don't care if this town goes down as long as the resorts open on time." That remark brought retorts from the crowd that included several people shouting, "you need to change your attitude." The exchange set the tone for much of the session. Mayor Jack Green, saying that he had suggestions from "citizens" who he did not identify, said it might be possible that the city would consider closing beer outlets at midnight, cutting the number of licenses (50) in half, or raising beer licenses to a minimum of $1,500, if the tax isn't passed. Alvarez, speaking in support of the proposal, said the city needed the revenue because other areas of income were falling off. g . "In the past," she said, "the greedy developer was our & magic source" of revenue. Alvarez said she didn't understand why there was an uproar t- t xi over "three and a half cents on a glass of beer." pr i? She also said the revenue was needed to "keep this golden a ttk goose (Park City) alive." oo When asked how the city could enforce the tax, city h- o -Attorney Tom Clyde said the law provided the city could a sieze. the books of beer license holders in order to insure the q tax was being honestly paid. & a At one point, Loble told a protesting tavern owner that the S ? iT beer wholesalers could keep the records for the retail outlets, p ch so the amount of tax owed to the city could be jjetermined. es To that, a representative of Big Four Distributing of Provo, a 5 the Budweiser dealer, said "oh no we won't." In fact, several restaurant, club and tavern owners have p said in interviews they would not voluntarily provide any - information regarding the amount of beer sold in Park City to the council. Police Chief Frank Bell said he conducted a study to determine how much beer was sold in Park City in an effort to determine how much revenue the tax could raise. But the chief's figures were disputed by William Christofferson, the executive secretary of the Utah Beer Wholesalers Association. Please turn to page 4A y More Beer Hearing Continued from Page 1 A Bell said he determined that the tax could raise as much as $120,000 annually. But Christofferson, citing figures gathered from other places across the country where beer had been additionally taxed, said the city could expect a drop in sales that would greatly reduce revenues. Christofferson also said the city had misfigured the amount of beer that was sold in town. He also said the city was incorrect in estimating the cost at the retail level of the added tax. ' The beer association spokesman said retail outlets would be forced to increase prices more than the amount of the tax to compensate for cost and profit margin. One bar manager told the council that she had new menus printed that reflected the cost of beer at pre-tax prices. She said reprinting would be another loss incurred by restaurant, club and tavern operators, in addition to the tax on beer lost through breakage, spillage and theft. That beer would still have the 3 cent tax on 10 ounces, regardless how it was desposed of, or whether or not it was sold. As it currently stands, the tax is under consideration by the council, but it has not yet been scheduled for a future agenda. Thus far, only Alvarez has openly supported the tax, although Councilwoman Tina Lewis told a meeting of the board of the Park City Chamber of CommerceConvention and Visitors Bureau that she saw no alternative to the tax, short of increasing property taxes, which she said she strongly opposes. The council's other members have not publically indicated how they view the proposed tax. The city has been given the option to levy the tax through a section of the state beer licensing law that was passed by the Legislature directly following the repeal of prohibition in the 1930s. That law says cities have the right to license the sale of 3.2 beer, prohibit it, or tax it. However, no city in Utah has ever taken advantage of the beer tax provision. Several cities in Salt Lake County say they will pass a beer ' tax to aid law enforcement in the battle against drunken driving. That would happen only if the Legislature fails to pass a similar tax on beer, wine and hard liquor in the upcoming session. That bill is expected to pass, according to Legislative staff workers on Capitol Hill in Salt Lake. The Park City tax differs from the Salt Lake County proposals in that the money collected here would be plugged into the ailing general revenue budget to aid in any number of areas, the city says. |
