County eyes change to alcohol permits

Doña Ana County officials are moving forward with an effort to allow beer and wine permits to be issued in unincorporated areas.

The measure requires the county to hold a special election, and voters would have to authorize the change.

A second matter relating to the transfer of liquor licenses into the county may also be considered.

County Commissioner Bill McCamley during a public meeting asked that the commission take steps to hold the election because restaurants outside city limits can't apply for beer and wine permits from the state. He said that's hindering economic development.

"If anybody wants to open a restaurant outside the city limits and get a beer and wine license, which is critical in many cases to the economic success of that business, they cannot do that right now," he said. "That is not good to people who live outside of the city limits."

Vote required

At issue is a provision in the New Mexico Liquor Control Act. It keeps the state from issuing beer and wine permits to restaurants, unless the electorate in the county or city where the restaurant is located has voted to allow them. The city of Las Cruces already has done so.

Commissioners plan to decide during a Sept. 9 meeting whether to hold an election.
Lynn Ellins, elections supervisor for Doña Ana County, said a vote by residents on whether to allow beer and wine sales must take place in a special election that can't be held 42 days before or after another regularly scheduled election. Because of the November general election and a school board election in February, the earliest a special election could be held is between Dec. 17 and Dec. 22, he said.

Who would vote?

Ellins said the cost of a special election would depend upon the type of election — mail-in or election-day polling. If the county's 115 precincts were consolidated, the cost would run about $47,000, he said. If the precincts were not consolidated, the cost would be about $125,000. A mail-in election would cost about $133,500.

It's unclear whether residents countywide would be able to vote in the election or whether it would be limited to residents in unincorporated areas. Ellins said, according to his interpretation of the law, all residents would vote. But Teala Kail, spokeswoman for the New Mexico Regulation and Licensing Department, said only residents outside cities would vote.

County Commission Chairman Kent Evans and County Commissioner Karen Perez spoke in favor of holding an election. They said they've heard from start-up restaurants that believe having a beer and wine permit is critical to their success.

Said Perez: "There's an urgency here, because without that license, these fledgling businesses will tank. They can't make it without that beer and wine license."

Kail said statistics about the number of beer and wine permits currently authorized in the county weren't available.

Joanne Ferrary, Doña Ana coordinator of the DWI Resource Center, said she's not opposed to more beer and wine permits being issued in the county, "but the county has to consider the responsibility of the person who'd be given this privilege of dispensing beer and wine."

"We're really not against it, as long as they're careful about who is going to have this privilege," she said.

Liquor license transfers

Kail said Doña Ana County is one of only a few entities in the state that hasn't held an election to allow beer and wine permits.

"Most of the counties and communities in New Mexico have," she said. "There are only a handful that haven't."

McCamley said he's also proposing that voters be asked a second question — whether liquor licenses should be allowed to be transferred from other areas of the state into the county. Now, that's prohibited, he said, and an election would be required to go ahead with the change.

Beer and wine permits differ from liquor licenses in several ways.

Kail said restaurants seeking beer and wine permits must meet certain conditions, including that they be a full-service food establishment and have an adequate number of servers. Only beer or wine can be served, not hard liquor.

Kail said liquor licenses authorize the sale of all types of alcohol, including hard liquor.

In addition, there's a finite number of liquor licenses in the state. The privately owned licenses can be bought and sold. They often are in high demand, which increases their value.

In contrast, Kail said, there's not a limited number of beer and wine permits. The cost of a permit is set at $11,050 annually.

Stalled growth

Real estate developer Tom Whatley said since beer and wine licenses are not allowed outside cities, and because liquor licenses can't be transferred, he's facing a hindrance with a commercial development project he's involved with in Santa Teresa.

"Beer and wine would be a good start, but we'd like the whole thing done," he said. "Places like Chili's or Applebee's or any of the new, big restaurants are not just going to get by on beer and wine. They want to have the spirits as well."

Now, Las Cruces and Mesilla allow the transfer of liquor licenses into their areas from other jurisdictions, but Sunland Park and Hatch don't.