Surprise! The OLCC warehouse deal was based on fake numbers.
Ted Sickinger, one of the few smart people left in Portland journalism, has the story, although alas, it's behind the Paywall of Pity.
The Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission appears to have vastly overestimated the growth of liquor sales in the current two-year budget cycle and beyond, which could leave local and state governments with budget holes to fill.
The agency told lawmakers Tuesday that demand for booze – and the lucrative stream of revenues it generates – is essentially flat.
That calls into question earlier projections of robust sales growth of 20% every two years. Those projections were part of the agency’s sales pitch to lawmakers for an expensive new warehouse and headquarters facility in Canby, the costs of which are also escalating.
But it was all an honest mistake, I'm sure. The guys at the OLCC would never do anything shady. That new warehouse is a real good deal and worth every penny.
It’s enough to drive a person to drink.
ReplyDeleteNow we can add "why do it at all?" to the still fuzzy "why there?" unanswered questions. Probably a bottle or two of unobtanium bourbon in the mix.
ReplyDeleteIt's mind-blowing that no one questioned the initial revenue puffery ... "Wait, are you saying the OLCC revenues are going to more than double every eight years?" That shouldn't pass the smell test, even in Salem, where all they smell is money.
ReplyDeleteWe are all drowning our sorrows?
ReplyDeleteBooze, dope and gambling. Oh yes, the homeless: money, money, money - Oregon Rocks! You go girls
ReplyDeleteThe whole story. https://archive.is/2024.02.07-153430/https://www.oregonlive.com/politics/2024/02/oregon-officials-vastly-overestimated-growth-in-booze-sales-underestimated-costs-of-new-warehouse.html?outputType=amp
ReplyDeleteThe incompetence is exceeded only by the entrenched mendacity. And of course no one is truly responsible for anything. There's been no need for the Oregon Liquor stores for decades. It's as obsolete as pumping your own gas ban that the state just sort of got rid of.
ReplyDeleteI wonder how much the OLCC staff would shrink if Oregon joined the 22st century.
DeleteThat's why they branched into marijuana and expanded bottle redemption (another flawed Oregon "success story" that should have been shut down entirely).
DeleteI always figured we'd privatize the OLCC (popular!) before we allowed self service gas (mixed). The olcc is only about raising money for the state through overpriced liquor.
ReplyDeleteEven by Oregon standards this is insane.
ReplyDeleteWell when you "promise" a steady return on the state pension of well above what is possible, you know the state is addicted to magical thinking.
ReplyDeleteWell put!
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