The daily morning journal and courier., 1894-11-09
lLIoEssE FEES REDUCED
the county-ReduetIons in Other Coun- ties-Hard Times and the saloons.


 From sloo to saoo-Loss in Revenue to the coanty-Redu in Other Coun-
 ties-Hard Times and the saloons.
 The commissioners of this county have reduced the liquor licenses siOo. Generally the price is taken down from s4oo to $500. The reduction is to affect only full licenses. those for which s40o is paid. It is the first re- duction. Hitherto all changes have been in the line of increased charges for licenses. In 1873. the fee was sl00. and changes in succeeding years were made as follows: In 1882 the fee was raised to sl25: 1886. raised to s200; 1888 to $500. and in 1890 to s40o. There are a few towns. small towns. in the coun- ty, where the license has been but sl00. These towns will not be affected by the decrease.
 County Commissioner Reynolds said yesterday that the reason the price had been dropped was that the saloon keepers had complained of hard times. There were. he said. appeals having the same view. one year ago. but the commissioners at that time did not grant the reduction. He denied the story that the commissioners in this county had entered into an agreement with the commissioners in other coun- ties for a reduction.
 The bringing down of the license fee $100 will reduce largely the in come of the several towns in this county. which are all but per cent. of the license income. There are 500 licenses in the county which will be affected by this change and on this account 1t will be seen that the county will lose nigh to $So.0OO. Of course the small towns in which the fee is less than s400 will reduce this figure from the true multiplication of the numbers.
 Most all the licenses in the county have been taken out for year. These were assessed at s400. Except in the towns of New Haven, Ansonia and Derby the license year expires October 1. For the three towns mentioned the year does not commence until Janu- ary 1.
 Thus New Haven, Ansonia and Derby saloonkeeps will profit by the reduc- ton this year.
 It is expected that throughout the city as well as in the suburban towns in the county, by reason of this license reduction, saloons will increase. New Haven has nearly 400 licensed saloons, a number nearly equalling half of the whole number in the county and 1t would seem as if these dispensaries were sufficient to quench the potatory demands of the citizens. As there are 395 licenses issued in this city, the reduction in income to the town of New Haven for the next year on that basis would be practi- cally $4O,OOO. Town Agent Garrity, when informed of the change yes- terday morning, was quite surprised. He said that in view of the reduction it would probably be necessary to in crease the town tax one-half mill. While the loss on license money (ac- cording to the present number taken out) would be practically $4o,O0O, an- other half mill would raise about $27, 1000 and he believed the town could get along on that basis.
 The commissioners of Hartford coun- ty voted Tuesday to reduce the license fee for wholesale and retail liquor dealers from $500 to $SGO. This will considerably cut off the revenue in the large towns which voted license in the last election. Hartford will be affected to an estimated amount of $20,O00, New Britain sS,OOO, Enfield $3,OOO, Southing- ton $1, 200 and Pennington $7OO. The commissioners say that they under stood the boards of other counties in the state where the license fee is over $500 were to reduce the fee to $500.