Sunday Beer and Wine Sales on November Ballot

The Norcross City Council voted 3-2 on July 11 in favor of a resolution to put Sunday beer and wine sales up for a vote on Nov. 8. Craig Newton and Ross Kaul voted against passing the resolution--but not because they disagreed with the fundamental idea.

Kaul, who was leading the meeting in Mayor Bucky Johnson’s absence, expressed an interest in waiting until a later work-policy meeting to make the decision, since it will be known at that time if a special election will need to be held anyway.

The seats for Mayor Bucky Johnson and Councilmembers Charlie Riehm and Craig Newton will be up for re-election in November. If no one challenges these elected officials, no election would be necessary.

City Clerk Susan Wuerzner said that an election generally costs around $8,000.

There was also some discussion about the balance of beer and wine to foodstuffs in convenience stores, the primary places that beer and wine are sold in the City of Norcross. Stores must sell at least 51 percent food to keep their license, pointed out City Manager Rudolph Smith. If the store has increased alcohol sales from the extra day, it must balance the scale by selling more food.

“They better drop the price of bread,” joked Councilmember David McLelroy in the work-policy discussion.

Smith said that if the city audited a store selling beer and wine and found the balance out of whack, it would issue a warning, and then give the store six months to get up to speed.

“I think six months is enough time to change business practices,” said Councilmember Andrew Hixson, who put the issue of Sunday sales before the Council. Others chimed in that it would still be possible for the stores to not sell alcohol on any given day if the balance became an issue.

But Newton said that in this economic environment, he felt that perhaps the City shouldn’t be giving stores any challenges.

Citizen Chuck Cimarik spoke about the issue during the public comment period. He said that one complaint he has heard from liquor stores is the cost association with being open an extra day. That would likely not apply in the Norcross city limits since the referendum is for wine and beer sales only and no “package stores” are in the current city limits.

He also pointed out that the idea might be attractive for Publix, which could potentially choose to annex itself into the city limits with the advantage of boosting alcohol sales.

Kaul said later that he was intrigued by that prospect.