Restaurants oppose bid to raise liquor license fee

Noting other costs including a minimum wage increase are looming Jan. 1, officials representing several hundred restaurants in Hawaii said they were against a Honolulu liquor license fee increase of close to 70 percent.

“It’s getting harder and harder to be in business in Hawaii,” Hawaii Restaurant Association executive board member Michael Miller said at a public hearing Thursday in front of the Honolulu Liquor Commission.

Miller, also operations manager at Tiki’s Grill at the Aston Waikiki Beach Hotel, said he expects there will be other increases as well in state and federal taxes.

The commission is considering increasing the annual fee most restaurants would pay to $2,040 from $1,200. Restaurants also must pay 0.005 percent of gross liquor sales up to $25,000, but that rate is not going to change.

The commission said the increase is needed to pay for a $450,000 database system and other expenses.

The commission is scheduled to make a decision at a meeting Sept. 14 after reviewing the testimony and comments.

Commission Assistant Administrator Anna Hirai said the last time an increase occurred, the review of the proposed liquor license fee hike took more than six months.

John Blatt, who owns two restaurants in Waikiki, said the proposed increases will create a hardship.

“There are a lot of expenses in Hawaii,” Blatt said.

Out of several who testified, one person who represented a coalition of nonprofit groups said she was in favor of the increase.

Cynthia Okazaki, chairwoman of the Hawaii Partnership to Prevent Underage Drinking, said public-health research shows an increase in the price of alcohol decreases the accessibility of alcohol to youths 12 to 17 years old.

“We applaud the commission” for raising the basic license fees, she said.

The administration said the fees are expected to decrease in fiscal 2019 as the cost of the database system is paid off.