STUART, Va. — Voters in Patrick County are getting the chance to determine if sales of liquor by the drink will be allowed in the county for the first time ever.

The Patrick Board of Supervisors voted unanimously last week to have that issue decided through a referendum that will be on the ballot for a county election in November.

During the same election, residents also will decide whether a prepared meals tax will be implemented countywide.

Liquor By District

Jonathan Large of Ararat, who represents the Dan River District on the Board of Supervisors, said Tuesday that the move to hold the liquor-by-the-drink referendum calls for the issue to be decided on a district-by-district basis.

In other words, voters in the Dan River District could decide they don’t want to allow establishments in the Ararat and Claudville communities to sell mixed drinks, although those in another district — such as Stuart, Meadows of Dan or Woolwine — could.

Patrick County has five districts in all. Stuart now has the only liquor outlet in the county, an ABC store that opened in the late 1960s.

Large said the liquor-by-the-drink referendum is a revenue-driven measure specifically designed to produce extra money for utility projects in the Peters Creek District, which covers the Patrick Springs area east of Stuart.

The Ararat supervisor explained that Patrick Springs is eyed as a prime development area, with plans to extend water and sewer service from nearby Stuart to bring that about. Peters Creek District Supervisor Lock Boyce backed the liquor referendum as a means of generating extra revenue for that project and the other four board members agreed.

“It’s a way to spread our tax burden,” Large explained.

However, deciding the issue district by district will allow county voters who live in areas that won’t be directly impacted by the revenue to reject mixed-drink sales. “I don’t see it as a need for our district,” Large said of the Dan River communities.

“It might come down to a religious choice,” he added.

Large knows of no other areas that allow such sales district by district, and doesn’t think having “dry” or “wet” sections within the same county would cause confusion. The Dan River District supervisor believes having the matter determined on that basis is an appropriate method for county residents as a whole to make their choices on mixed drinks known.



Meals Tax

The proposed countywide meals tax also to be considered by Patrick voters in November would join a similar levy already in place for eating establishments in the Stuart town limits. “I guess it would level the playing field,” Large said.

It further would bolster county revenues at a tough time, he said.

A percentage for the proposed meals tax has not been determined, and therefore a dollar figure for how much it could generate on an annual basis is not known at this point.

Supporters of such taxes say the burden tends to be placed on travelers and tourists as opposed to local residents.

Contact Tom Joyce at tjoyce@mtairynews.com or at 719-1924.