BROOKINGS — Two types of liquor fees are now in lockstep with each other pricing-wise at $100,000 each following a 7-0 vote at Tuesday night’s Brookings City Council meeting.

Previously, the on-sale liquor fee was $25,000 for a new license, while the full-service restaurant liquor fee was priced at $100,000 for a new license. The latter comes with conditions the former doesn’t have, such as a requirement that 60% of the business’s gross revenues come from the sale of food or non-alcoholic beverages.

While the change isn’t expected to have any immediate impact, primarily because all 18 of the city’s on-sale liquor licenses are currently in use, it did generate some discussion regardless.

“Just one kind of thing — you could call it a concern, maybe, that I have is that with that ($25,000) up to $100,000,” Councilor Andrew Rasmussen said, “I worry that can take away the ability of a start-up business — someone who’s trying to start up the business then build their equity and capital in their business — if the city’s then coming in and raising that initial fee that they would then be able to turn around and sell for a profit.”

He added, “I think — I don’t know, it may not be the end of the world for (a) business who’s doing that, but I think  it’s just that, the change from the status quo and how these types of businesses have operated in Brookings and so I, just wondering out loud, if that is going to have any adverse effect on those newer startup businesses or someone looking to open a bar or restaurant in town.”

In response to Rasmussen, Councilor Holly Tilton Byrne pointed out a couple of considerations as well.

“I would maybe just clarify — to the point of a startup and the license that they would obtain — at this point in time, if a startup were to want to make Brookings their home, they would be paying the $100,000 for the license, correct?” she noted. “Because we don’t have the other license available, and so if that is a hindrance for a startup, it’s a hindrance today anyway — not that we want to create barriers for any startup companies — but the $100,000 price is the price they would pay today. By making this change today, we would not be changing the cost that a new business would have to pay for that license.”

Depending on U.S. Census data that’s expected to arrive in late June or early July, there is the possibility that a new on-sale liquor license would become available, according to information from the city. It all depends on population growth, which determines how many liquor licenses a municipality can have.

Meanwhile, Mayor Oepke “Ope” Niemeyer spoke to the value of liquor licenses in general.

“That $100,000 number was the number that was used to require us to put a restaurant license at $100,000 — that was 14 years ago,” he said, referencing a court case and state law from that period in time. “We’ve moved on from there, and so an operating agreement that could possibly get transferred to someone purchasing one of the current owners of an establishment that has an operating agreement, they may be paying more than a $100,000. There might be even more value to that now than there was then. So I’m thinking $100,000 is not too far out of line anymore — as far as I’m concerned, it’s increased in value.”

In other business at Tuesday’s meeting, councilors:

• Approved, on a 7-0 vote, budgeting a maximum of $350,000 to deal with a nuisance property issue at Shady Acres Mobile Home Park on Western Avenue. The funds may or may not be spent in part or in entirety, depending on how the issue is rectified.

A breakdown of the money set aside for possible use includes $170,000 for mitigating the properties in question; $180,000 to help displaced residents via Inter-Lakes Community Partnership, including up to $100,000 in rental assistance, $65,000 for a dedicated case manager and a $15,000 administrative fee to facilitate the program.

• OK’d a resolution, 7-0, allowing Brookings Municipal Utilities to seek additional American Recovery Plan Act funding to aid in BMU’s water system upgrade project.

The project, budgeted at a cost of $114.7 million, already has a little over $21 million in ARPA funding. This move will bring BMU into eligibility for up to an additional $9 million in ARPA money from the state.

• Gave the green light, again on a 7-0 vote, to a resolution allowing for further improvements to the pickleball courts project at Hillcrest Park. The additional costs are estimated at $99,300, and total costs still remain within budgeted project dollars, per a city memo.

Changes include additional fencing between the courts, along with gates for court access and increased buffer zones around the courts — all of which could help make Brookings the site of tournaments that draw players in from outside of South Dakota.

• On a 7-0 vote, approved the 2024 street overlay and maintenance project. The winning bid of $1,206,481.35 was submitted by Bowes Construction Co. It was approximately 17% lower than the engineer’s estimated cost of $1,447,865.50, and is expected to be finished no later than the end of October.

• OK’d an on-off sale malt license and an on-off sale wine operating agreement for Jacks Entertainment, doing business as Bank Saloon and Bank Vault at 327 Main Ave.

• Authorized the city manager, on a 7-0 vote, to sign and submit a $672,000 Transportation Grant Program funding agreement to construct a pedestrian improvements project on Medary Avenue adjacent to South Dakota State University.

The grant will cover 80% of the project’s cost, with the remaining 20% — $134,400 — split evenly between the city and SDSU.

The plan is to build an 8-foot-wide shared-use path on the east side of the avenue, along with improved lighting, speed tables, and line painting. The project is expected to be built no earlier than 2026.

— Contact Mondell Keck at mkeck@brookingsregister.com.