Should the state privatize liquor sales?

Uhhh … yes. Of course, the proposed sale — meant to help prevent the state’s budget from busting — has riled up liquor lobbyists who want things to stay exactly as they are.

The lobbyists are freaking out because, they say, local governments will no longer get their cut even though their cut is already less than it used to be. And, as State ABC chairman Jon Williams points out: They’re already getting a cut of beer and wine sales and products sold in convenience and grocery stores. So, why wouldn’t they get a cut of liquor sales again? Maybe they’ve been enjoying too much of their own products.

From MSNBC.com and WCNC:

Most ABC boards and their liquor stores are not like Charlotte’s.

Some are tiny. “I know of one where the entire operation is one employee who earns minimum wage,” says Jon Williams, Chairman of the North Carolina ABC Commission.

Some of those tiny systems are not exactly efficient.

Last year five of them actually lost money.

Operating expenses are growing faster than sales and when that happens distributions to local governments goes down.

Those distributions used to be about $60 million, now it’s closer to $50 million.

Read the entire article, by Stuart Watson, here.

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Rhiannon “Rhi” Bowman is an independent journalist who contributes snarky commentary on Creative Loafing’s CLog blog four days a week in addition to writing for several other local media organizations. To learn more, click the links or follow Rhi on Twitter.

This article appears in Dec 21-27, 2010.