PENDER COUNTY, NC (WECT) – Some big financial changes might be coming to Pender County.
The ABC Board is suggesting a change to County Commissioners Tuesday night for the ABC's profit distributions system. Currently, the only places in Pender County that receive ABC profits are the areas that have an actual store. But the ABC Board wants to spread those profits out to cover all of the county jurisdictions.
Chairman George Mara said these proposed changes will mean more money for each jurisdiction, be he added that this can only happen if the ABC liquor store in Atkinson closes.
For a few years now, the store has been accounting for the lowest sales in the county. Mara doesn't want residents living there to see it as a loss, though.
"Although they're losing a store, they're going to gain additional money," he explained. "They're going to see somewhere between $5,000 and $10,000."
The poor sales in Atkinson are essentially leaching $50,000 to $57,000 a year from the ABC's profits.
"I don't think there should be a problem with them because they're going to get either more money than they would have before or they're going to get money that they didn't get before," Mara said.
He explained that splitting all of the money will not lower profits for any stores, not even the ones that pull in the most money like Hampstead, Surf City and Burgaw.
Chad McEwen, the Burgaw Town Manager, said he's interested in hearing about the plan as long as the areas with stores keep a substantial cut.
"Currently it's our police department that shows up if there's a situation at an ABC store," McEwen said.
If County Commissioners approve the proposal Tuesday night, the next step is to get each Pender County jurisdiction to agree with the change. After that, officials will ask the legislature in the May short session to change the law.
If that's approved, the Atkinson store will be closed by the end of the fiscal year, which is this July.
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