On August 30, Newton residents will determine if local restaurants and hotels will be allowed to serve mixed drinks and higher alcoholic content beverages to their customers.
Because of the odd name of the ballot proposal, city attorney Brian Mayo clarified the history of the Mississippi legislature’s and the city’s action in putting the proposal up for a vote by the people. The ballot will ask voters to vote for the establishment of resort status or against the establishment of resort status.
“Resort status was a legislature creation to allow cities and towns to vote to have or not to have liquor sales by the glass in restaurants and hotels within its city limits,” Mayo said. “The legislature had to first act on the city’s request to hold an election on resort status, which was approved and became effective July 1. After that, the city was able to set an election date to give citizens an opportunity to vote for or against the establishment of the resort status in Newton.
“The board thinks that this is a positive initiative for the city because it could encourage more economic growth and possibly get more restaurants and hotels in the area,” Mayo said. “There has been some evaluation when some restaurants were coming to look into town previously, and that was something they looked at. Because it wasn’t available, I think it was a factor in not coming.”
Several years ago, the sale of beer and light wines in restaurants was approved in Newton. However, the resort status, if approved, would establish a restaurant’s ability to sell mixed drinks like margaritas and higher alcoholic content wines with meals. Should citizens approve the resort status, Mayo said the board of aldermen has already developed regulations for those sales.
“This is not about bringing in liquor stores,” Mayo said. “This is about sit-down restaurants. You’re not going to be getting this to go and taking it out.” Also, the sale of the drinks by restaurants will only be allowed during hours when beer purchases can be made and 60 percent of a restaurant’s business must be the selling of food. Regarding hotels, Mayo described a “happy hour” situation that could be compared to the complimentary breakfast offered by some hotel chains. The resort status would allow the hotel to offer a complimentary drink and food to hotel guests, but it would not allow for a bar in the hotel.
Last July, the town of Decatur voted to allow the sale of alcohol and currently has two liquor stores in town, but Newton’s situation is different, Mayo said. “Newton has been looking to do this for several years beyond what Decatur did. Decatur’s situation is different because it is a county seat.”
Laws regarding alcohol sales in cities is based on population or designation as a county seat. “Newton, because it doesn’t have the population that Meridian does or some of the bigger cities, doesn’t have the ability to vote for the establishment of liquor stores in the city because of our size.”
Restauranteur and co-owner of Zack Garvin’s steakhouse Aaron Brown said he is extremely hopeful the measure will pass.
“It will allow us to offer a service that our guests have been craving for a very long time,” Brown said. “As we all know, the last two years have been hard on small businesses and restaurants, so this would allow us the opportunity to increase revenue and continue to grow here. We look forward to seeing the results and continuing to thrive in this wonderful, tight-knit community.”
