ACTION REQUESTED:
Title
Communication from the Mayor and Corporation Counsel with a Request to ADOPT an ORDINANCE Concerning 2021 LIQUOR LICENSE RENEWALS.
Body
BACKGROUND: City of Peoria liquor licenses run from 3/1 to 2/28, annually. Renewal documents were mailed to license holders in December and are due by the end of January, 2021. Bar bar/restaurant owners were severely limited in their ability to offer on-site consumption in 2020 due to various mitigation measures imposed by the State of Illinois. Legal staff examined options for providing license fee relief to liquor license holders who offer on-site consumption.
Research into approaches for 2021 liquor license fees from other communities, can be briefly summarized as follows:
Springfield - waived fee for bars and restaurants to renew their 2021 liquor license.
Moline - decreased renewal fees by 50% and moved renewal period to 6 months rather than 12 months.
Normal - reduced the license fee to $0, contingent upon the license not being found guilty by any court or administrative tribunal of violating Covid-19 regulations. If a licensee commits such a violation, they must pay the full fee within 30 days of the finding.
Bloomington - reduced their license fees in 2020 for each day a licensee could not sell alcohol (closed completely with no curb-side or to-go sales). Determined daily fee by dividing total license by 365 and discounting the pro rata daily fee for the number of days the establishment was closed.
Naperville - in 2020 council voted to waive renewal fees until April 2021. Excluded grocery stores and big box stores that remained only for package sales.
New Lenox - waived 2021 liquor license renewal fees.
Rockford - offered a 50% reduction on 2021 license fees.
Mokena - waived for bars and restaurants for 2021.
Aledo - waived all liquor license fees for the first 6 months of 2021.
North Aurora - waived all liquor license fees for bars, restaurants and breweries.
Anna - waived all liquor license fees except for package licenses.
Depending on when their 2021 liquor licenses become due, other communities have not yet taken action but anticipate providing some kind of relief to their license holders.
The attached ordinance provides relief to liquor license holders as follows:
1. All liquor licenses have been extended for two months. All licenses will now expire on April 30, 2021. No license holders have to pay any additional fees for this license extension.
2. The 2021 liquor licenses will run from May 1, 2021 to February 28, 2022, thereby putting the annual renewals back in line with traditional due dates.
3. Qualified license holders (on-site consumption licenses) will pay 50% of the license fee for 2021. Retail (no on-site consumption) licenses will pay the normal fee.
4. If a license holder who pays a discounted license fees is later found guilty by a state or hearing officer of Covid mitigation measures, the license holder will be required to pay the balance of the full license rate.
5. Late fees for the 2021 applications will not be assessed until May 1, 2021.
NEIGHBORHOOD CONCERNS: None.
IMPACT IF APPROVED: Financial relief provided to on-site consumption liquor license holders for license fees. Decreased revenue to the City.
IMPACT IF DENIED: Financial relief not provided to on-site consumption liquor license holders for license fees. May or may not result in a revenue decrease to the City as the number of bars/restaurants that will no longer be in business once mitigation measures are lifted cannot be quantified.
ALTERNATIVES: No change to existing license fees.
EEO CERTIFICATION NUMBER: N/A
WHICH OF THE GOALS IDENTIFIED IN THE COUNCIL’S 2017 - 2032 STRATEGIC PLAN DOES THIS RECOMMENDATION ADVANCE?
1. Grow Peoria
WHICH CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTOR(S) FROM THE COMPREHENSIVE PLAN DOES THIS RECOMMENDATION IMPLEMENT?
1. Grow employers and jobs.
DEPARTMENT: Legal