With the International Year of the Horse quickly approaching, Georgetown’s continuing ban on Sunday alcohol sales will have a tremendous deleterious impact on the potential economic windfall. The organic opportunity to maximize the profitability and benefit from this event already exists, but there are factors currently extant that will cause Georgetown to fail, allowing Lexington to reap the benefits and revenues to which Georgetown refuses to avail itself. One of the largest single obstacles to maximum opportunity is the current ban on Sunday alcohol sales.
The opponents of Sunday sales brought no legitimate evidence to the harm caused by Sunday sales because they couldn’t find any. Every horror they cited was representative of package, not by the drink, sales and in-home drinking. No responsible establishment is going to serve children, drunks, or the pregnant. All reliable scientific studies available on by the drink sales on Sunday indicate two consequences: increased local revenues with no corresponding increase in alcohol-related tragedy.
Since the introduction of liquor by the drink, open source DUI records indicate a continuing reduction in the number of alcohol-related traffic incidents in Georgetown and Scott County as a whole; so much for the public safety argument.
12,000 dollars per annum doesn’t sound like much money, but that figure is probably only one-tenth of the gains to be realized from increased Sunday commerce attracted by Sunday alcohol sales. Why would the council and mayor not help the businesses and members of the community at large rather than harming them in efforts to address the budget? Also, the $12,000 figure leaves out the $13,200 in additional licensing fees that would be reaped from just the 12 current restaurants.
As Brad Penn pointed out in his guest column in the News-Graphic, Restaurants currently open on Sunday would see about a 45% increase in revenue for Sunday, while the locally owned ones which would actually be open on Sunday would have an extra day’s full business. Tommy Chew of Charcoals estimated before council that opening on Sunday with permitted by-the-drink sales would show about an additional $1500 per week for his business.
Again citing Brad Penn’s column, each dollar increase in spending at restaurants enabled by Sunday alcohol sales would result in an additional $1.05 spent in the local community, as opposed to going elsewhere. So, the increased local dining results in more than a doubling of local spending, which, in turn, means more revenue.
Charcoals is one of the smaller restaurants in Georgetown, and its owner estimated $1500 in revenue if Sunday sales were permitted. That means city-wide, no less than 18,000 additional dollars would be generated in restaurant sales alone. Adding in Mr. Penn’s figures, that means an additional community spending on Sundays of $36,900 per week.
Looking at alcohol sales alone, 40% of 18,000 is 7,200, of which the city’s 6% take is $432, multiplied by 52 is $22,464 in additional annual revenue from alcohol sales alone. That is without regard to the revenues to be gained both from increased local dining and increased local shopping. These are standardized figures that do not reflect “surges” from special events.
That is pretty much all that I could cover in the time allotted. Because Mayor Karen Tingle-Sames is opposed to Sunday alcohol sales for personal religious reasons, she has refused thus far to give those favoring Sunday sales more than three minutes to speak. Initially, during the “first reading” debate on 1 December 2008, she allowed those speaking against Sunday sales as much as fifteen minutes each while giving those in favor only one minute. I have, by going to three consecutive council meetings, been able to speak for a total now of ten minutes. However, I have managed to effectively refute virtually everything that those opposed brought to the argument. That refutation is found in the above and in my earlier blog “Georgetown City Council Deceived”.
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