POTTSTOWN PA – State-owned liquor stores in Lower Pottsgrove, Pottstown, Limerick and elsewhere across Pennsylvania aren’t nearly as profitable as elected officials have previously proclaimed, The Pennsylvania Independent online news service reported Tuesday (July 31, 2012).

The Independent‘s examination of publicly available Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board financial statements, and its comparison of those figures to estimates made during 2009 and 2010 for liquor sale profits by the Governor’s Budget Office and Legislature, show a mulit-million dollar gap between what the board actually earned annually and what politicians said it could transfer to the Treasury.

The disparity gains greater significance, The Independent observed, as Pennsylvania continues to debate whether its should sell and privatize the board’s operations, and get out of the liquor retailing business.

Surprisingly, The Independent added, despite the difference between what it made as profit and what politicians guessed at, the board met their expectations by relying on liquor store cash flows and a “rainy day fund” of extra cash that is now being depleted. “At some point, according to experts, the state needs to be more realistic in its projections or the seemingly stable cash cow won’t have all the dollars that the state demands,” it wrote.

The board operates more than 600 stores across the state, including one in the North End Shopping Center on North Charlotte Street, Lower Pottsgrove Township; on High Street in downtown Pottstown; and on West Ridge Pike in Limerick.

• Read a story by reporter Jared Sichel, titled “Financials show liquor board not as profitable as state claims” and published Tuesday by The Independent, here.

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