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Liquor referendums are all about money
By Mike Graxiola
Published May 7, 2009
Just when it appeared that Parisians would be able to buy beer or wine at local stores, and Reno businesses could sell the harder stuff, the winds of resistance have started sweeping over the communities. Apparently that hasn’t been the trend in other Texas cities.
It’s interesting to note that since 2003 more than 150 towns in the state have legalized alcohol sales. Just last November, several Texas cities including Greenville, Plainview, Irving and Lufkin passed liquor referendums.
Locally, the liquor sales issues on Saturday’s ballot will include; Paris-Option 1, “The legal sale of beer and wine for off-premise consumption only;” and Paris- Option 2, “The legal sale of mixed beverages in restaurants by food and beverage certificate holders only;” and Reno-Option, “The legal sale of all alcoholic beverages for off-premise consumption only.”
The referendums came about when more than 3,000 people in Paris signed the petition calling for a vote on both options, and in Reno, there were almost 300 signatures calling for a vote.
Ironically, selling alcohol is already big business in Lamar County, and proponents pushing the referendums are trying to get a piece of the multi-million dollar pie.
According to the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, Lamar County reported $11,996,108 in beer, wine and liquor sales in 2007. Through the first nine months of 2008, the county reported $9,462,278 in sales.
Also, local bartenders made enough toddies last year to boost the county’s ranking to 56th out of 210 Texas counties reporting mixed beverage sales.
One common thread that I found among supporters pushing liquor referendums in their respective cities is that they rely heavily on a report titled, “The Economic and Fiscal Impact of Alcoholic Beverage Sales in Texas: An Analysis with Emphasis on Various Representative Communities,” by state economist Ray Perryman. They have used the report to make their cases that alcohol sales stimulate business in cities that go wet.
Perryman is founder and president of The Perryman Group, an economic and financial analysis firm based in Waco, and he was commissioned last year by the Texas Hospitality Association to do the study, which reported that there was “a statistically significant increase in retail sales following a change from dry to wet.”
In the 2008 report, Perryman said the economic impact for a 25,000-person community, ie Paris, would be almost $19 million in annual spending in the local economy, $10.8 million in output, and 185 jobs.
“Even when other factors such as income patterns, general economic conditions, and overall retail trends are accounted for, The Perryman Group found that there was still a statistically increase in retail sales following a change from dry to wet,” the report stated.
Regarding social concerns about alcohol sales, the report made these observations.
“It should be noted, however, that while dry areas do not permit the sale of alcohol, they have little or no ability to impact the consumption of alcohol,” the report said. “Residents of dry areas simply have to drive to a neighboring wet area to buy alcohol.”
In other words, whether consumers have to drive five blocks or five miles, they’re going to buy alcohol, beer or wine, and if that’s the case, the analysis says cities are missing out on the economic benefit those tax dollars produce.
“Economic analysis indicates that being dry results in the loss of sales taxes and business activity for the area as residents drive to neighboring locations to spend their money on alcoholic beverages,” the report stated.
I’m not sure if that’s going to be a good enough reason to get liquor referendums passed in Reno and Paris, but we’ll soon find out.
Mike Graxiola is the publisher of The Paris News.
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