Panel nixes upfront fee for liquor distribution deal
A legislative committee has issued its first draft of how the state will award its next wholesale liquor distribution contract, though the plan does not detail how revenue from the deal would be used.
The Portland Press Herald reported the compromise bill now in the works would have the state seek a contractor for the administration, marketing, warehousing and distribution of liquor in the state.
The paper reported that the draft bill also stipulates that no bidder could have a financial interest in a business that would conflict with a state goal of maximizing state revenue.
Marginetti Cos., part-owner of the current distribution contract holder Maine Beverage Co., also owns a liquor business in New Hampshire, where officials perennially point to lower prices that attract Maine customers across the border.
The early plan also nixes an upfront payment that was part of a proposal put forth by Democrats as a way to pay off the state's hospital debt.
The idea of linking the payment of hospital debt to renegotiation of the liquor contract first emerged earlier this year as part of an emergency bill put forth by Gov. Paul LePage.
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