Top Shelf Permits

Welcome back! Sorry to have missed you last week, but I had to take a siesta after the Council meeting the week prior. As most of you should know, Councilwoman Gary’s blue law proposal to treat Sunday as any other day of the week with respect to serving alcohol was defeated and then deferred until next week’s Council meeting. If you’re not up to speed on it, here’s a link to my last post that discusses the proposal and here’s a link to the Advocate’s article on the Council discussion. The vote on this is likely to be close, so supporters on either side should show up next Wednesday. I know that those favoring repeal have put together a Facebook event for it, but I have yet to hear of any organized opposition to the blue law repeal proposal.

With all that going on, we actually have ANOTHER alcohol proposal on the docket. This one comes from Councilman “Bones” Addison, which is somewhat surprising given his past votes and statements concerning alcohol. His colleagues on the Council have stated that Addison is generally against expanding alcohol access and hours. So what’s going on? Well, with a close reading of the proposal, it’s pretty clear that the intent isn’t really to expand the hours that alcohol can be served, at least not in any meaningful sense. The proposal would allow holders of Class A permits (on premises consumption) to request a permit that would allow them to extend their hours to serve alcohol, specifically allowing them to stay open until 4 a.m. on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday morning.

Sounds pretty cool, right? Here’s the catch, it’s going to cost $40,000 a year for a permit. No, I’m not kidding, I didn’t forget to carry a zero, move a decimal, screw up my long division, or whatever: $40,000 per year. It’s time for a little perspective (I’m ignoring Councilwoman Gary’s proposal for right now as it hasn’t passed). Currently, bars have to acquire Class A (Beer) and Class A (Liquor) permits from local authorities to serve from 6AM to 2AM the following day for 6 days a week (Mon-Sat). The combined annual fee for these two local permits is $575.00 and the holders are allowed to serve alcohol for roughly 6,240 hours per year (20 hours/day x 6 days/week x approximately 52 weeks/year). In order to serve for an additional 312 hours per year (2 hours/day x 3 days/week x approximately 52 weeks/year), a permit holder would have to purchase a Class AL (Late-Night Operation) license for $40,000. The inequity in the cost of the Class AL permit compared to the two Class A permits is simply outrageous. Consider this, the cost per hour of the combined Class A licenses is about $0.09 per hour assuming a permit holder is open during all authorized hours permitted ($575/6,240 hours). The cost per hour of the Class AL license is $128.21 assuming a permit holder is open during all authorized hours permitted ($40,000/312). The difference is a 142,455% premium (($128.21/$0.09) x 100)) in the permitted value of a “late-night” hour versus a normal hour. Seriously?

If we’re really going to be honest here, the intent of this proposal is to do one of two things (or both, actually). One, it’s to have a law on the books that the Metro Council can turn to and say that we’re a progressively minded city and allow ultra late night drinking on the weekends, never mind the fact that the barrier for entry is as high as that capsule Felix Baumgartner jumped from last week. Two, the law clearly favors the big operators that can pony up that kind of money, such as our local casinos. Honestly, simply to afford the permit, a business would have to clear an additional $256 in profit per night during those additional hours just to break even. The only places that are going to be able to generate enough money are places that not only offer alcohol but other activities, such as gambling (I’m calling it like I see it) and gawking. Considering the absolutely ridiculous fee structure for this proposal, the Metro Council should either amend the proposal to provide for a more rational fee structure, or vote down the proposal altogether.

The Metro Council meets next Wednesday at 4PM at City Hall in downtown Baton Rouge.

P.S. Also, although I haven’t devoted any time to it in this post, scrap the part of the proposal requiring an annual review of the AL permit by the Council, none of the other permits requires that, it’s just stupid.