BALTIMORE, Md. — Like an over-served customer.
But rather than having one drink too many, some bar and restaurant owners in Baltimore feel as though the city government has had a dollar too many.
"Every time the city decides it needs money, it just goes to the businesses and figures out how to tax us," Patrick Russell, owner of Kooper's Tavern and Slainte in Fell's Point, said.
Every March, establishments that serve alcohol in Baltimore have to renew their liquor licenses. Last year, the city's liquor board petitioned the Maryland General Assembly to increase the annual license fees, citing a million-dollar operating deficit. The bill passed, nearly doubling fees for restaurants like Kooper's Tavern and Slainte.
While forking over an extra thousand bucks to the city each year probably won't break the bank, Russell says:
"It's bigger picture than that. It's more about all the other things that go along with it, than what it's gonna cost me. $1,000 is a lot of money - I have two bars down there, so that's $2,000 - but it's all the other disastrous policies that are in place that allow people to operate out of their trunk and not have a liquor license. They're not getting assessed a $1,000 fee."
The liquor board plans to use the revenue to add more inspectors, enhancing oversight for businesses.
"This expansion is crucial for a comprehensive regulatory approach, moving beyond the current triage system focused on specific areas and reactive 311 responses," Justin Williams, deputy mayor for the city's Community & Economic Development office, wrote in testimony provided to the state legislature last year.
But Russell wants to see better enforcement of illegal alcohol sales outside the Fell's Point businesses, a problem that seems to resurface every summer.
"Go and bust the people that are serving liquor out of their cars that aren't paying personal property tax, that aren't paying for alcohol awareness certifications, that aren't paying for leases, that aren't buying from the State of Maryland-appointed distributors, serving to minors - enforce that, that would be great."
WMAR-2 News spoke to other business owners in the neighborhood who didn't want to go on camera, but said Russell speaks for many of them.
"They're furious," Russell said. "They'd like to give their keys to the city and say, 'you run it. Good luck. You come in and run our businesses, see how you do.'"
In his testimony to the legislature last year, Community & Economic Development deputy mayor Justin Williams said these fee increases were not only necessary to address the budget shortfall, but they also reflect inflation since 2008, the last time license fees were raised in most cases. For some licenses, fees haven't changed since 2001.