Watauga voters will decide whether to allow liquor stores to locate in their city.
Watauga voters get to decide if liquor stores will come to their city.
Mayor Arthur Miner said if voters approve allowing liquor stores, they will bring in needed tax dollars.
“Anything we can do to lower the tax rate for the homeowners,” he said.
Miner said he’s talked to residents who shared varying opinions on whether they want liquor stores in the city.
“I’ve had feedback from citizens. Some said they want liquor stores but don’t want too many. One person wrote in and said she wants as many as we can get,” he said.
Miner said that on Oct. 11, the council voted to allow two liquor stores, one on Denton Highway and the other on Rufe Snow Drive.
John Hatch, president of Texas Petition Strategies, said his company conducted a petition drive on behalf of Liquorland, which wants to open a location in Watauga.
According to a 2008 study from the Ray Perryman group, Hatch said if voters approve package stores in Watauga, it would lead to $5.7 million in sales and would create around 50 jobs.
Hatch said his company collected over 2,600 signatures from registered voters in Watauga. The number of signatures needed to call a local option alcohol election is based on the number of people who voted in the most recent gubernatorial election which was in 2018.
Hatch said he is encouraging cities that are considering alcohol elections to conduct them soon because he anticipates a high turnout in 2022.
In 2018, the turnout was around 55 percent because of the race between Sen. Ted Cruz and Beto O’Rourke, Hatch said.
He said communities are holding liquor elections to bring in more tax dollars when they see neighboring cities bringing in more revenue.
“It’s no longer a science experiment. You can look at sales tax revenue before cities went wet (allowed alcohol sales) and after growth went up,” Hatch said.
This story was originally published October 29, 2021 at 10:16 AM.