By Eric Stock
BLOOMINGTON – Opposition is brewing for Bloomington’s proposed increase in liquor license fees.
Tony Wargo, co-owner of Joe’s Pub in Bloomington, told WJBC’s Scott Laughlin, bar and restaurant owners take huge financial risks and often have slim profit margins.
PODCAST: Listen to Scott’s interview with Wargo and Donaldson on WJBC.
“We’re not sitting here living in these huge mansions,” Wargo said. “Ee take the money that is made, whether it be from the food we sell or the video gaming we do and we invest it back in the community.”
Bloomington’s city council is expected to vote next week on fee increases of over 50 percent over three years.
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Art Donaldson of Times Past Inn says the city’s declared need to cover police and fire pensions costs is just a ‘smoke screen.’
“The city has zero expenses when it comes to video gaming, so if they have zero expenses then why are they charging us for it,” Donaldson said. “That goes back to selective taxation.”
Wargo said the city’s liquor fees weren’t changed in three decades because they were so high when they were implemented. He said the city must explain why it needs that much of an increase.
The bar owners say the city’s fees are misleading because there’s a separate fee for Sunday liquor sales which pushed the $1,760 annual fee to $2,210 per year.
Eric Stock can be reached at [email protected].
