KU Championship still adding to city coffers

Posted by Chad Lawhorn September 3, 2008 at 12:07 p.m.

KU Championship still adding to city coffers

Oh, what a party we had. The numbers are in and, as expected, the city's coffers saw a healthy increase in drink tax revenues following Kansas University's run through the Final Four. The city received an additional $95,703 in drink tax revenues during the second quarter of the year, which is the magical quarter when the basketball team marched through the Final Four. The city receives the drink tax - a 10 percent tax that all bars and restaurants charge on liquor sales - on a quarterly basis. The city isn't able to break it down by day or week, but it doesn't take a KU rocket scientist to figure out what is behind the increase. "I imagine basketball had a lot to do with it," said Ed Mullins, the city's director of finance. The nearly $100,000 windfall represents a 22 percent increase from the same quarter a year ago. If you remember, KU fell just short of making it to the Final Four that year. But here's another way to look at the totals: Bars and restaurants sold an additional $957,703 worth of booze during the second quarter of the year. In case you're wondering, that works out to an additional 383,081 bottles of beer at $2.50 apiece. In general, it has been a great year to be in the booze business in Lawrence. The first quarter totals - which included KU's trip to the Orange Bowl and the early rounds of the NCAA Tournament - were up 12 percent, or about $54,000. As previously reported, the city's sales tax revenues - taxes paid on everything from beer at grocery stores to T-shirt purchases - increased by about $160,000 during the late March and early April period. So, who is to say how much a National Championship is worth, but it looks like it definitely has added at least $260,000 to the city's bank account.