Daily Progress, Jacksonville, TX

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  • Family First Jacksonville Treasurer Matt Montgomery, left, and Progress Jacksonville Chair George Douglas pose together after Tuesday's face off at the monthly meeting of the Cherokee County Conservative WOmen's Club. The groups represent opposing sides of the wet/dry debate in Jacksonville, and each took time to present reasons against or for voting in the May 8 election on the propositions to allow sales of alcohol inside city limits. Progress photo by Nathan Straus

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April 6, 2010

The showdown

Family First, Progress Jacksonville meet to discuss upcoming alcohol election

Nathan Straus Jacksonville Daily Progress

JACKSONVILLE — The Cherokee County Conservative Women brought representatives from  special purpose political action committees Progress Jacksonville and Family First Jacksonville to speak to a group of about 40 at Hong Kong Buffet Tuesday afternoon. Both groups, respectively for and against the sale of alcohol for off-premises consumption in Jacksonville, gave presentations regarding their positions with Progress Jacksonville Chair George Douglas opening.

“The present system of wet and dry in Texas has evolved over many decades,” Douglas said. “Jacksonville as we know it is not totally dry.”

He said many restaurants in nominally dry areas serve beer and wine to the tune of $36.6 billion in annual sales with an industry of more than 300,000 jobs.

“Dry areas have no control over the consumption of alcohol in the area — residents simply have to drive to a wet area to purchase alcohol,” Douglas said.

Douglas also said based on studies by The Perryman Group and in comparison with larger cities which have gone wet, Jacksonville stands to gain approximately $7.5 million in sales for stores, 74 new jobs and $174,000 in new sales tax revenue by legalizing alcohol sales in the city.

Family First Treasurer Matt Montgomery said cities selling beer and wine in grocery and convenience stores can’t trace the actual sales tax revenue.

“When a city allows beer and wine to be sold, it gets taxed just like milk, bread and cookies,” Montgomery said. “Sales from beer and wine are not broken out.

“How can you prove it’s helping your town financially when you can’t even track it?”

Montgomery said the hard liquor sales of restaurants are traceable.

“According to the State of Texas Comptroller Web site, it’s just 1 percent; one cent per $1,000 of alcohol sold. One percent is not a very big economic needle move if you ask me,” Montgomery said.

He also said the market will be diluted if Jacksonville is surrounded on all sides by wet towns such as Rusk, Palestine, Whitehouse, Bullard and Troup.

After the presentations both representatives took questions from the gathered crowd. One person asked Douglas what he had to gain from legalized alcohol sales in Jacksonville because he does not live in the city.

“I would gain nothing,” Douglas said. He said it is acceptable for someone from out of Jacksonville to be altruistic in order to get such a measure brought to the ballot and passed.

Jacksonville Independent School District Board of Trustees Secretary Joe Casey said he was against allowing alcohol sales in Jacksonville and likened alcohol sales to sweet snacks and the increased ease of obtaining alcohol in the city to a citizen trying to go on a diet.

“We don’t need to bring the cookie jar and place it in our kitchen,” Casey said. “We can’t expect to maintain a healthy condition.”

Montgomery said there is no proof legalized alcohol sales would bring an increase of revenue to Jacksonville, while Douglas said studies show it would.

Election Day for alcohol sales in the city is May 8.

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