It’s been a little over a year since legal sales of alcohol began in Bethel, and City Council member Leif Albertson has now successfully introduced a proposal for the Council to vote on whether or not a 3 percent alcohol sales tax should be added to the October ballot.
Ordinance 17-36 proposes to allocate funds generated from the tax specifically to “health, public safety, and social service uses related to alcoholic beverages.” Albertson said that this is an effort to relieve some of the burden placed on those services by alcohol sales.
Mayor Rick Robb was concerned that a potential increase in the tax could push sales for bootlegged alcohol up.
A motion to introduce was passed and will appear for discussion and a vote at the next City Council meeting on June 27.