SNOW HILL — A push by a private business owner in Berlin seeking a Class D alcoholic beverage license is having a ripple effect on the rest of Worcester County.
This week the County Commissioners lent their support to state legislation that would allow Class D licenses not only in Berlin but in Snow Hill and Pocomoke as well.
House Bill 1512, sponsored by Delegates Mike McDermott and Norm Conway, would alter Article 2B of the state alcoholic beverage regulations to allow the issuance of Class D licenses within the corporate limits of Berlin, Snow Hill and Pocomoke.
The commissioners support of the bill is directly counter to the stance they adopted earlier this winter when they voted in closed session to oppose any change that would allow the Class D license, which authorizes the off-sale of liquor, in Berlin.
However, the commission changed its mind two weeks ago and voted unanimously to support an amendment at the state level to allow such a license in Berlin. Now that HB 1512 also includes Snow Hill and Pocomoke, Commissioner Judy Boggs pointed out that it would be difficult to defend supporting a change in one municipality but not in the others.
“We’ve done it. I think we need to be fair now,” she said.
The towns should not be held to different standards, agreed Commissioner Louise Gulyas. Whether the commissioners made the correct decision supporting the change in Berlin, Gulyas felt that the call has already been made and the commission has “let the horse out of the stable.”
“I asked basically Snow Hill, I said if they were in favor of this I would support it,” said Commissioner Virgil Shockley, “and they said they would like to be onboard.”
Pocomoke is likewise interested in being added to the bill, citing the town’s ability to have a voice in the discussion over the need for more off-sale.
“We also understand that this proposed legislation is permissive in nature. In other words, the Mayor and Council of Pocomoke City would decide if there is a need in the future for additional liquor outlets,” wrote Mayor Bruce Morrison in a letter to the commission, “before any licenses would be issued within our Corporate Limits. With that condition, we would agree that Pocomoke City should be included in your proposed House Bill along with the towns of Snow Hill and Berlin.”
McDermott’s and Conway’s bill was introduced on Feb. 27 and went through first reading on the same day. The bill would require any private licensees within the corporate limits of Berlin, Snow Hill or Pocomoke applying for a Class D license to purchase wholesale wine and liquor, exempting light wine and beer, from the Worcester County Department of Liquor Control (DLC). However, beginning on May 1, 2016 those licenses would be free to purchase all of their alcohol from wholesalers directly and circumvent the DLC.
This is similar to the sunset provision that current alcoholic beverage license holders are operating under in Worcester. The sunset provision will allow an earlier out, however, with the wholesale market open July 1, 2014 for existing license holders operating outside of town limits.
Another clause in the bill would direct the fees for the Class D licenses to the county’s general fund except in the case that the licensed premise is within a municipal corporation, in which case 75 percent of the license fee will go to that municipal corporation.
Besides HB 1512, another similar bill has been introduced in the state senate by Senator Jim Mathias. That bill, SB 1079, only mentions allowing Class D licenses in the town of Berlin.