VFW and American Legion May Receive Liquor License Fee Exemption From Selectmen

Two organizations for military veterans could be getting an exemption for their liquor license fees next month.

During the Oct. 14 meeting of the Sharon Board of Selectman, selectman J.J. McGrath proposed waiving the annual $500 liquor license fee for the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

McGrath said that he wants to do it as a show of support for the two organizations that are struggling at the moment,

“The organizations are very important for the veterans who want to socialize. It’s a place where they can sit down and share experiences. It means an awful lot to the town of Sharon in that they go above and beyond in honoring all the veterans,” McGrath said.

According to McGrath, membership is down at the two organizations due to the fact that young veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are not joining and are socializing in different ways.

Currently, the American Legion has about 280 members while the VFW has 29.

Joe Roache supported lowering the fees to $175 but was worried about how other organizations and clubs would react to the exemption.

“I’ve gotten not many, but some phone calls from people who heard about this from members of other clubs in town. They asked, ’if you’re going to lower their fees, what about our fees?’” Roache said.

Chairman Bill Heitin said he is leaning towards supporting waiving the fees but said that he wanted to focus on how the two groups can obtain more revenue.

“There are other things we need to focus on, not $500. We should focus on how we keep them in business,” Heitin said. “We’re mostly under when it comes to charting other fees. Some of these other fees, we can easily make up the $500.”

A formal vote will be taken next month when the board reviews all the licenses in town.