Pa. Liquor Control Board shelves 'handling fee'
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Rep. Mike Turzai: "I think they recognized they were taking advantage of customers."
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The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board Thursday temporarily set aside a plan to increase handling fees paid by wine and spirits manufacturers, placing a six-month moratorium on the controversial decision.
The fees could have meant an additional charge of about $1 to $1.50 per bottle on several thousand varieties of wine and spirits sold at 640 state-owned liquor stores. They also could have resulted in higher prices for drinks at restaurants and bars.
The change was scheduled to start Jan. 4, but the LCB announced Thursday it was holding off on the increase until June 30.
The board also said that during the next six months, it will not approve any price increases by the makers of the products sold in its stores.
LCB officials said the moratorium would give Gov.-elect Tom Corbett and the Legislature "time to pass legislation that would enact long-sought business-practice reforms that would enable the PLCB to generate higher levels of profit for Pennsylvania."
The announcement was lauded by local business owners who peddle liquor as well as by Mr. Corbett, who had pledged last week to examine the change.
"Their action today, it's got to be applauded," said Kevin Joyce, owner of The Carlton restaurant Downtown and past president of the Pennsylvania Restaurant Association. "We're very happy. It's a big win."
Kevin Harley, spokesman for Mr. Corbett, called the decision "a victory for the consumers of Pennsylvania."
"The last thing that the Liquor Control Board should be doing is imposing additional taxes on consumers," Mr. Harley said.
It was the first time in 17 years that the board had decided to increase the fees for "logistics, transportation and merchandising," citing higher costs for shipping, storage and marketing.
At a state Senate committee hearing in late September, LCB chief executive officer Joseph Conti said he saw the price changes as "reasonable and necessary" adjustments that could generate $87 million in additional annual revenue.
He told the panel that the board faced increased operational costs "and continuing upward pressure on prices" from liquor suppliers.
The fee increases were opposed by restaurant and bar owners.
"We basically never had any say in the matter," said Sean Casey, owner of Lawrenceville's Church Brew Works. "They just arbitrarily tried to ram it down everybody's throats."
First Published November 19, 2010 12:00 am
