ABC Evaluation

The General Assembly's Program Evaluation Division has launched a deep examination of the state's alcoholic beverage control system. Lawmakers have asked the team of legislative staffers to evaluate over the next few months whether the ABC system works as efficiently as it should and whether changes, including adopting practices used in other states, are needed to make the system more effective. The division, created last year, is visiting 30 of the 158 local ABC boards across the state during July and August. They're visiting stores and interviewing local board members. "We're just taking a fresh look at it, seeing if there are some best practices other states have that might help here," said John Turcotte, the division's director. Turcotte expects to give lawmakers a full report at the end of the year, including options for new policies or changes in the system. The recommendations could be drafted into legislation after the General Assembly convenes in January.
Under North Carolina's system, the state's three-member ABC Commission runs a central liquor warehouse and sets statewide prices while local boards operate liquor stores. But critics contend the system breeds inefficiency and waste, often pointing to the fact that two thirds of the local ABC boards oversee only one store. Last year, ABC Commission Chair Doug Fox proposed changes to consolidate the number of local boards. He wants the state commission to have more power to require mergers among small, neighboring ABC boards and to require consistent design and hours among stores. So far, none of those proposals have been turned into legislation. Turcotte said his staff will examine how the system works, why it was set up the way it is and what problems the system was designed to address.
The Rev. Mark Creech, executive director of the N.C. Christian Action League, expressed concerns about the possibility of adopting practices from other states. He suggested the ultimate goal of the study was the privatization of the stores in order to generate more sales and more tax money. "The issue is not so much about efficiency as it is the possibility of additional revenues," he said. Turcotte said the evaluation is not a privatization plan, noting that there also is no effort to take away localities' power to determine whether liquor is sold in their community. Taxes on liquor sales last year put more than $250 million into state and local treasuries. (Mark Johnson, THE CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 7/13/08).