Posted on 03/27/2007 5:52:25 PM PDT by flashbunny
Restaurant is first to file claim on Tosa ban on smoking
By Janice Kayser Staff Writer Posted: March 20, 2007
Hector's, A Mexican Restaurant has filed a notice of claim with the city asking for $75,000 in lost revenue - a loss the owner has pinned on the city's restaurant smoking ban.
Robert H. Messinger, owner of Hector's, 7118 W. State St., sent a letter late last week to City Hall claiming he lost $53,586 between last July 1, when the ban went into effect, to Dec. 31. He also claims additional revenues of $21,414 were lost between Jan. 1 and Feb. 6, the point at which the city granted his restaurant a hardship exemption as Messinger was able to show a more than 10 percent loss in business compared to the year before.
Messinger wants the city to pony up for the loss as reparation for damages to his business.
"I would love to see some money back, but everybody has this idea you can't sue City Hall," he said. "My hope is that this will at least get us to court so we can have a hearing on the issue, because bottom line, even though I did get the hardship waiver, once July 2008 rolls around, I will lose it all again.
"There is no way the state will have enacted a statewide restaurant smoking ban by that point, no way. Wauwatosa will still be an island and the little businesses like mine just won't be able to survive."
In 2003, the Common Council adopted a smoke-free restaurant ordinance to be implemented in July 2006. Wauwatosa is the only metro community to have a restaurant smoking ban.
Several establishments were granted waivers because their restaurant and bar areas were separated by walls and doors, and therefore were allowed to continue to have smoking in their bar areas only.
Hector's, a local icon for nearly 20 years, is too small to do such remodeling, Messinger said.
Though Messinger filed the notice of claim on his own, he indicated he does have a lawyer in place to move forward. A claim is often a precursor to a lawsuit.
"It nearly destroyed me," Messinger said of the smoking ban period. "I had to find $25,000 of my own, take out a $50,000 loan. I owe taxes and all because I was losing about $15,000 a month after the ban went into place. It was dead at 9 p.m.
Messinger said the smoking ban has not made a dent in the number of people smoking.
"I don't think they made anybody quit smoking by passing this law, they just motivated them to move on to another restaurant," he said.
Messinger said he hopes the council will revisit the smoking ban before 2008, especially if there seems to be little possibility of a statewide ban by then. All hardship waivers are null and void on July 1, 2008 and those establishments with more than 50 percent of revenue from food sales will have to observe the ban or face action by the city.
"I don't know what I will do if it doesn't change," he said. "I might have to take away the dinner menu, just serve lunches and a la carte and become a bar so that we don't go over the 50 percent mark. This whole experience has been unbelievable."
City Attorney Alan Kesner said the city is reviewing the notice of claim.
Smoking nazi bump !
Yes, and this is the REAL cost of smoking bans. Ruined businesses and lives for absolutely no reason other than to make politicians feel good. I'm sure Hector's is just tickled to hear that smoking bans are good for business.
Smoking at this point in time is legal. Stop with the banning BS, Either grow a set and outlaw smoking or leave these people alone.
Smoking in a confined area such as an elevator or at work where you cannot avoid the smoker is one thing. Banning smoking in bars and restaurants where people can decide for themselves if they want to leave because of it is another.
If the people of this world spent as much time minding their own business as they do minding other people's the world would be a better place.
Thanks for the ping. It sure would be nice to see ALL Wisconsin business banding together in this manner.
Maybe it's coming? Hope so!
I'd hope so. IIRC only two places in Wauwatosa received an exemption from the smoking ban based on the impact on their business, hectors being one of them. I'd like at least the other one to file suit against the city.
Amazing - wauwatosa is generally a conservative city, but it gets the liberals who want to live near milwaukee but not in it and have this sort of upscale appeal to their address. They're more concerned with smoking in restaurants than they are about the crime that is slowly creeping into the city from milwaukee.
Gotta have those priorities straight - can't have people enjoying a cigarette after a meal!
Prohibition doesn't work. It has already been proven.
Nanny State PING!
Smoking bans DO hurt businesses - don't let the nanny staters tell you otherwise.
"Prohibition doesn't work. It has already been proven."
It's just like communism - they believe it only failed because the right people weren't in charge before.
I have to object to the term "smoking nazi" as demeaning the nazis. Dinner guests chez Hitler were invited to smoke at the table because they were, you know, guests. Try that with your modern anti-smoker!
But we'll never see those stats.
"How do you lose money that you never had???"
They've been in business for 20 years. They can generally tell how much they're going to make from month to month base on their history.
Say they have $40,000 in gross receipts every month. All their operational expenses are based on consitantly getting within that range of recenue. Smoking ban goes into effect-nothing else changes- and they're getting only $30,000 in gross receipts. That's how they lose money, though nothing more than government fiat.
That is a great statement. Says it all in a nut shell. If people would put their time to better use on something constructive they would add something of value instead of trying to tear something or someone down all the time.
Read just how much Wisconsin smokers are already contributing to the state economy with the money they spend on cigarette taxes:
Wisconsin Information
Tobacco Taxes
Wisconsin's excise tax per pack of cigarettes: $0.770
Wisconsin's excise tax collection for the
fiscal year ending June 2002: $293,465,000
Sales tax on tobacco products: 5.00%
Federal excise tax per pack of cigarettes: $0.39
Total federal excise tax collections in fiscal year 2002: $7,512,700,000
Comparing Excise Taxes on Cigarettes, Beer and Wine
Number of six-packs of beer that must be sold in Wisconsin to produce the same state excise tax revenue generated by one carton of cigarettes: 210.6
Number of bottles of wine that must be sold in Wisconsin to produce the same state excise tax revenue generated by one carton of cigarettes: 155.5
Wisconsin Smokers' Contributions to the State Economy - 2002
Wisconsin smokers comprise only 23.6%1 of the adult population in the state. Here is what they already pay because they choose to buy a legal product:
Smokers Pay Excise Taxes2
$ 293,464,555
Smokers Pay Sales Taxes2
$ 77,578,077
Smokers Pay Tobacco Settlement Payments3
$148,265,951
Total $519,308,583
Master Settlement Agreement Payments To Date
$483,185,311 has been paid to Wisconsin since the Master Settlement Agreement was signed on November 23, 1998.
I really think smokers should start rolling their own to stick it to the taxman.
I agree with you.
If I could think of a more appropriate, gut-wrenching, emotion-invoking, disgust-generating term, I would use it.
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