City collected $67,000 so far on sales

Since December, Corbin restaurants have sold over $612,000 worth of alcoholic beverages, and the city has collected about $67,000 in taxes off alcohol sales since a citywide by-the-drink referendum passed in 2003.
The latest figures regarding alcohol sales by local restaurants were obtained by the News Journal on Tuesday and show a slight increase between the first and second quarters of this year. Restaurants are required by law to report gross receipts to city officials for tax and regulatory purposes. The city of Corbin charges a six percent tax on all alcohol sales as a regulatory fee.
Records of the last two three-month quarters show only one local restaurant has failed to meet the mandated minimum of 70 percent food sales during that period. The Depot on Main Street, a combination restaurant and comedy club in downtown Corbin, reported 32 percent of its gross receipts came from the sale of alcohol – a violation that could lead to immediate sanctions, though unlikely.
“Not at this point and time, there’s nothing,” Corbin Alcoholic Beverage Control Administrator Carson Mullins said Tuesday of possible sanctions. “Like anything, we want to give them enough time to do business and work things out … it’s kind of a good faith thing.”
The Depot sold $71,438.71 worth of alcohol from March 1 until May 31. In the previous quarter (from December through February), The Depot sold $84,308.35 in alcohol … a higher figure, but only 28 percent of its reported gross receipts for the period.
Mullins said local laws allow up to a year, at the discretion of the administrator, for restaurants to come into compliance. If violations persist for two straight quarters, officials normally ask for restaurants to shorten operating hours or cut off alcohol sales at a certain time to rectify the problem.
After two straight quarters in violation in 2004, El Dorado Mexican Restaurant has had two straight quarters of compliance, selling $54,007.23 of alcohol from December through February (25 percent) and $54,470.84 most recently (23 percent).
Angels and Wings – a restaurant and sports bar currently under investigation by the state Alcohol Beverage Control Board for over-serving alcohol to intoxicated patrons, providing alcohol to minors, violating sales percentages and other offenses last year – sold $33,089.55 worth of alcohol the second quarter of this year, 28 percent of its total receipts. The total is off from sales in the previous quarter of $42,547; 26 percent of sales.
O’Malley’s Irish Eatery and Pub, on Cumberland Falls Hwy., has had the highest alcohol sales the last two quarters of any restaurant in the city. The first quarter of the year, O’Malley’s sold a whopping $96,859.68 worth of alcohol and $79,421.08 during the most recent period. The sales represent 25 percent and 23 percent of total gross receipts respectively.
The Vintage House sold $24,714 worth of alcohol last quarter (15 percent) and $27,641 from December through February (17 percent).
Buckners’, which did not open until the most recent reporting period, had $44,159.49 of alcohol sales – 14 percent of total sales.
Former Corbin ABC Administrator Roberta Webb, who now serves as an administrative assistant, said all sales figures are reported by restaurant owners and are subject to audit.
“These are their records, not our records,” Webb said. “This is what they have reported.”