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Expanded alcohol sales application process begins in Madison County

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Starting Tuesday, anyone interested in applying for a quota package liquor license in Madison County can do so. The opportunity comes following voter approval of countywide alcohol sales in May.

Madison County Judge Executive Reagan Taylor said voter backing cleared the way for 41 quota licenses total. 16 are already in place in Richmond, so there are 25 additional licenses available. Taylor said the new county ordinance applies only to distilled spirits and wine sales.

“So, it doesn’t have anything to do with like beer, like package sales. Like you can have as many package sales as you want. There’s no cap on the number of licenses for that. It’s only on like liquor stores,” said Taylor.

Richmond has had alcohol sales for decades with some limited sales in Berea. Taylor noted the Fiscal Court acted last week on the issue.

“What we did is we created the law. Not necessarily I’m gonna say the process, but we created the law. How much the license fees are…what’s the hours of operation…what you can and cannot do basically,” said Taylor.

Alcohol beverage sales in the expanded area of the county will run from 6:00 a.m. until 1:00 a.m. Monday through Saturday with modified hours on Sunday. The county judge said he’s been told it takes about 30 days for action on an application.

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Stu Johnson retired from WEKU in November, 2024 after reporting for the station for 40 years. Stu's primary beat was Lexington/Fayette government.
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