ROGERS -- A campaign committee has formed to advocate for retail alcohol sales on Sundays in Rogers and Bentonville, according to a news release.
"Every week, we're sending thousands and thousands of dollars in tax revenue to other communities, when shoppers have to drive out of town to buy their beer or wine on Sundays," Clay Kendall, chairman of the Keep Our Dollars Local ballot question committee, said in the Friday release. Kendall is also a Rogers City Council member.
"While they're there, they are also spending money on things like gas and groceries, and that's money that could be coming back to our town, to pay for things like road improvements or public safety," he said.
When a community votes to allow Sunday sales, it applies to retail liquor stores and beer and wine permits at convenience stores and grocery stores, said Scott Hardin with the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration.
Bentonville and Rogers both have a 2% local option sales and use tax. The tax brought $4 million into Bentonville and $5.2 million into Rogers in February, according to the Arkansas Municipal League's City and Town magazine March issue.
The only way to get Sunday alcohol sales on a ballot is to gather signatures within the community of at least 15% of the number of voters in the towns who voted in the most recent gubernatorial election, Hardin said.
The committee will gather signatures to put the measure on the general election ballot in November, according to the news release. Supporters must turn in approximately 2,500 signatures for the measure to be placed on the ballot in Rogers, and around 2,000 signatures for the measure to be placed on the ballot in Bentonville.
In the 2018 governor's election, Bentonville had 13,067 votes and Rogers had 16,149 votes, said Dana Caler, Benton County Clerk's Office elections administrator and voter supervisor. Bentonville has 32,004 registered voters; Rogers has 44,819, Caler said.
The deadline to submit any questions or issues to be placed on the November ballot is Aug. 30, Caler said. The items would need to be submitted to the Quorum Court in July, she said.
"In addition to keeping revenue here, we also want consumers to have the choice of when and where to make their purchases," Kendall said. "Taking this antiquated ban off the books will bring us in line with many other communities in our county, give our residents more options and keep more of our dollars local."
Raymond Burns, president/CEO of the Rogers-Lowell Area Chamber of Commerce, said state liquor laws are very complex. There are hundreds of people who every Sunday go into a convenience store or grocery store and pick up a bottle of wine or a six-pack only to be told they can't buy it on Sunday, and that's with signs all around the displays, he said.
"We can go to Avoca, Pea Ridge, Missouri or Springdale and buy on Sunday, yet the meeting, entertainment and arts destinations for the area, cannot," he said. "While we believe every voter will have to make a personal choice on how they vote, this issue deserves to be on the ballot."
Ashley Wardlow, interim president/CEO of the Greater Bentonville Area Chamber of Commerce, said Friday the chamber had no comment on the matter.
Linda Lester, manager of Mac's Wine, Spirits and Beer in Bentonville, said Sunday sales would have a huge impact on business. She said she was not surprised by a petition drive but was surprised it had not happened sooner in Bentonville and Rogers.
Avoca, Gentry, Garfield and Pea Ridge have Sunday sales in Benton County. Sunday alcohol sales for Decatur is on the May 24 election ballot, said Kim Dennison, county election coordinator. Overall, 19 cities across the state have Sunday off-premises alcohol sales, according to the Department of Finance and Administration.
Springdale and Tontitown in Washington County also have Sunday alcohol off-premises sales.