MABEN – Aldermen hope to legalize beer and light wine sales next week after the state legislature granted the town qualified resort status during the previous legislative session.
On Monday, the board of aldermen held a public hearing to review an ordinance that would set regulations for selling beer and light wine in town.
Mayor Larry Pruitt told The Dispatch the goal in passing the ordinance is to generate some much-needed sales tax for the town and open the possibility for future developments, like restaurants and a hotel.
“There needs to be some things where we can draw people out to get their money. We’re losing money to Eupora, Webster County and Clay County,” Pruitt said during the meeting, garnering an “amen” from the audience. “We’re losing our tax dollars to those communities, so that’s the incentive – to bring more sales tax dollars to Maben.”
A qualified resort area is a region that local governments designate, with state approval, where local authorities can regulate alcohol sales.
Typically, an election is required for a dry county to become a wet county, according to the Mississippi Department of Revenue. But under qualified resort area status, municipalities can pass local ordinances to allow and regulate the sale of alcohol, even in a dry county like Oktibbeha.
A Senate bill passed during the previous session grants Maben the qualified resort area designation. Had it not received the designation, the city would be required to hold an election to sell beer and light wine. That would have been tricky, Board Attorney Walter Zinn said, given the town is located in both Oktibbeha and Webster counties.
“Maben is a little uniquely situated because we’re in two counties,” he said. “So in one county, you have different provisions than what you have in Oktibbeha County.”
Zinn said he consulted several representatives from other cities along Highway 15 that had already received the qualified resort designation, including Pontotoc and Woodland, and used similar language as them to develop the ordinance for Maben. He reviewed the ordinance with the board during the Monday meeting.
The board voted to change the two parts of the ordinance to allow for drive-thru “beer barns” and exterior product advertising. Both were prohibited in the original ordinance. Afterward the board adjourned with plans to vote on approving the ordinance during its regular board meeting on Aug. 5.
Should the ordinance pass, restaurants, convenience stores and grocery stores that plan to sell beer and light wine would have to obtain a retail permit from MDOR. The board would also be allowed to grant special use permits for alcohol to be sold at approved events.
Pruitt told The Dispatch that citizens have been requesting for beer and light wine sales to be permitted. The city would benefit greatly from extra sales tax that alcohol sales would bring in, he said.
“Somebody’s going to buy it, and it’s going to bring taxes in,” he said. “With me looking at what comes in on sales tax, we need some help. The street light almost took all of our sales tax dollars, and that’s sad.”
He also hopes beer and wine sales will encourage restaurants to come to the area. A possible restaurant deal has already fallen through once, he said, because they weren’t allowed to sell beer with food.
“We definitely need some more things to be brought around in the town to better our community,” he said. “I’m not saying we’re going to get rich over beer and light wine, but instead of them taking it to Clay County and to Webster County, bring it right here. That’s all we’re saying.”
McRae is a general assignment and education reporter for The Dispatch.
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