2020-02-20 Liquor Adjudication Board Minutes

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Taniguchi: So, why the hundred dollars? That's my question. In other words, if the amount due was $10,000 and the situation was the same, would it still be a hundred dollars? I just want to understand how the hundred dollars (was determined). Gonzalez: What I looked at, in this case, and spoke with the Director (about), was the failure to file your sales report fine. In our rules it's specified as a one hundred dollar fine. This is a little different because this is actually having to pay the monies owed to the Department, so it's a little more serious. I was using that as a starting point. Starting at a hundred dollars as my floor, I was looking at the nine prior cases in the last five years where people failed to pay their percentage fee, and some of those fines were up to two thousand because people closed up shop and skipped town without paying. Those circumstances are different. That's why I took into account the circumstances of the situation for this Licensee, and I didn't factor in the percentage that was due. Although we could in the future. Takase: In the past, prior to my being the Director, I believe it was set by Corp. Counsel. We did try that method, charging a percentage of the percentage fee due; but to try and write it out and account for all the variables; it was getting unwieldy. At first, we charged a percentage, a ten percent penalty, it seemed easy enough. But if it was a day late or really late, that changed it. We attacked it from the other side. We try to make sure that everybody pays on time and from our side, I'll make sure that they get some notice so that I don't have a situation where someone would say they totally forgot. That's not an excuse. I'll have the girls call several times to make sure that we've given them a chance to pay on time. Takase: We've done pretty well. When I started, we probably had 30 to 50 late payments, but now we're down to usually less than five. It has worked and most of them, if they communicate with us during that time, some have legitimate excuses, but if they speak with us, we'll try to give them a break. We look at their past records. We haven't had a lot of problems. It's been different ones, no chronic late payers. We had a couple of chronic ones, but they've shaped up and they said they appreciated us helping them through their rough times and now they pay on time. It works. Taniguchi: It's because my background is in lending. So, you know you have to pay, we hope that everybody pays on time, but the reason I brought it up, not so much for this one because it's a small amount, like only four percent; but in the future to make decisions, it's easier to justify if you have something to follow. Even if they paid it ten days late or whatever, if the amount is a million dollars, is it still going to be a hundred bucks? Just being kind of facetious, but that's basically why I was trying to figure out how we can... Takase: The other thing is, we're capped at two thousand dollars for a penalty, so we can't go above that. Taniguchi: Just to have something to follow rather than a subjective thing, for me, is... I just wanted to understand the process. That was my question all the time. It's what I would ask my people when they come with their recommendations, what's the justification? If they say it's because the last guy owed us so much and this guy owes us this much, but paid... it's just that it's easier to back yourself up with a ... that's why I ask the question. I don't have a problem with the hundred dollars in today's (case). FEBRUARY 20, 2020 - LIQUOR ADJUDICATION BOARD MINUTES 13