Continuing a long-running controversy, the mayors of the state’s three largest cities are calling for the sale of alcohol in package stores and supermarkets on Sundays – a long-banned practice in Connecticut.<\/p>\n
Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch, who strongly supported the idea when he was a state senator, joined with New Haven Mayor John DeStefano and Hartford Mayor Eddie Perez on Wednesday to push for the sales – citing a recent legislative staff report that says the change would mean an extra $7.5 million to $8 million in tax revenue for the state.<\/p>\n
“If our legislators simply lifted this antiquated ban on Sunday alcohol sales,” Finch said, “our financially struggling state could stop bleeding business – and sending tax revenue – to stores in neighboring states.”<\/p>\n
The group that would sell most of that alcohol, the Connecticut Package Stores Association, has blocked Sunday sales multiple times during the past five years in one of the most heavily lobbied issues at the Capitol. The association says the extra day would not mean any extra money for the state or the stores because it would simply spread existing sales over seven days instead of six.<\/p>\n
Despite the support from the three mayors, the idea has a long way
\nto go. It requires approval by the full House of Representatives and
\nthe state Senate – which has never happened. It also requires support
\nfrom Gov. M. Jodi Rell, who opposes the idea. Rell’s budget director,
\nRobert Genuario, said that Rell did not include Sunday sales in her
\nlatest budget – despite huge state deficits – because she flatly
\nopposes the concept.<\/p>\n
Finch said in an interview Monday said that he has been frustrated
\nby the legislature’s general law committee that has blocked Sunday
\nsales for years.<\/p>\n
“I couldn’t get it through when I was a senator, so I’m trying to
\nback-door it,” Finch said. “You have to go down to South Carolina to
\nfind a state on the eastern seaboard” with a ban as strong as
\nConnecticut’s.<\/p>\n
While favoring a statewide lift of the ban on Sunday sales, Finch
\nsaid that he and the other mayors would favor a law that would allow
\nSunday sales in Bridgeport, Hartford, and New Haven.<\/p>\n
“At least let us do it,” Finch said. “What we hope to demonstrate
\nto the state is show them how silly they have been by leaving the money
\non the table. If you go to the Sturbridge liquor stores, you see
\nConnecticut license plates up there.”<\/p>\n
Saying that the Bridgeport police can handle any problems with underage drinking, Finch said the issue is purely financial.<\/p>\n
“Even if it was $100,000 more for Bridgeport, it’s $100,000 we
\ndesperately need,” he said. “We think it’s worth a shot. Let’s see
\nwhat it brings in.” <\/p>\n
The argument against Sunday sales has carried the day at the Capitol
\nin the past, as legislators have rejected the pleadings of lawmakers
\nrepresenting border towns, such as Enfield, who say liquor stores in
\ntheir towns now suffer from weak sales.<\/p>\n
Connecticut is the only
\nstate in New England — and one of only three in the nation — that has
\nan across-the-board ban on Sunday of beer, wine, and liquor in stores
\nand supermarkets. Other states have bans in varying degrees, depending
\non the type of alcohol being sold.<\/p>\n
As part of a broader, 72-page
\nreport on economic competitiveness that was released in December, the
\nlegislature’s program review and investigations committee staff wrote:
\n“Connecticut liquor and grocery stores should be permitted, but not
\nrequired, to sell alcohol on Sunday under their current licensing
\nprovisions.”<\/p>\n
The report stated that per-capita sales in the
\nborder towns were 35 percent to 43 percent lower than in other
\nConnecticut towns between 2004 and 2008.<\/p>\n
State Sen. John Kissel
\nstrongly supported the report as he has has been fighting this war for
\nyears because his district covers the towns along the Massachusetts
\nborder — Enfield, Suffield, Somers, and Granby. Aware of the
\nlegislature’s solid opposition, Kissel said it might be possible to
\ncompromise by allowing sales on Sundays during the heavy shopping
\nperiod between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day.<\/p>\n
But Carroll
\nHughes, a longtime lobbyist for the package store owners, said
\nWednesday that the Sunday sales are a bad idea because the stores would
\nbe forced to pay overtime rates for their workers with no significant
\nincrease in sales. As such, some stores that are barely profitable
\nwould be forced to close, he said.<\/p>\n
The association represents 1,100 package stores – in 168 out of
\nthe 169 towns – in a state of 3.4 million people. The stores are often
\n“mom and pop” operations that do not even have computers in the store
\nin 2010. Out of 1,100 stores, Hughes has an e-mail list of only about
\n50 stores.<\/p>\n
Despite widespread belief to the contrary, Hughes says the ban on
\nSunday sales has absolutely nothing to do with the long-ago “blue”
\nlaws regarding the closure of stores on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Hughes rejects
\nthe committee staff’s estimate that opening on Sunday could generate an
\nadditional $7.5 million to $8 million in taxes per year. With the
\nstate’s continuing budget problems, that figure has aroused interest
\namong some at the Capitol.<\/p>\n
But with the state’s sales tax at 6
\npercent, Hughes said in an interview Wednesday that the estimated
\nincrease in the state’s revenue would require about $135 million in
\nadditional alcohol sales. At current prices, the sales volume would
\nneed to explode to generate that much money, he says. Hughes calculated
\nthat Connecticut residents would need to buy 13.5 million bottles of
\nvodka at $10 each in order to raise that level of revenue.<\/p>\n
“The wholesalers support us – the beer and the liquor wholesalers,”
\nHughes said Wednesday. “If we lose stores, they lose salesmen, and they
\nlose drivers.”<\/p>\n
Another factor in the debate is that Massachusetts imposed a sales
\ntax of 6.25 percent on alcohol in August 2009 that Hughes said has
\nsharply changed the dynamics for Connecticut package stores. Buyers are
\nnow staying home in Connecticut because there is less of an advantage
\nto crossing the border, he said. As such, he says that Massachusetts is
\nno longer a serious threat to alcohol sellers and that should reduce
\nthe impetus for Sunday sales.<\/p>\n
Besides legislators from border towns, the idea has gained strong
\nsupport from the national Distilled Spirits Council of the United
\nStates and its lobbyists.<\/p>\n
The state legislature is expected to hold a public hearing –
\nprobably within the next two weeks – on the Program Review and
\nInvestigations committee staff’s recommendation about allowing Sunday
\nsales. But no date has been set yet for the hearing.<\/p>\n
“We have the facts to support our position,” Hughes said. “None of
\nmy people have ever been concerned about speaking at a public hearing.”<\/p>\n
“The box stores, the food stores benefit,” Hughes said. “My guys
\nlose. It puts them out of business. I know enough to know it’s bad for
\nBridgeport. I have a huge number of stores in Bridgeport. I suppose we
\nhave 25, maybe 30” stores.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Continuing a long-running controversy, the mayors of the state’s three largest cities are calling for the sale of alcohol in package stores and supermarkets on Sundays – a long-banned practice in Connecticut. Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch, who strongly supported the idea when he was a state senator, joined with New Haven Mayor John DeStefano and Hartford Mayor […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4001,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-305086","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305086","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4001"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=305086"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305086\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=305086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=305086"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=305086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}