Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board Reports Record Earnings

HARRISBURG, Pa. (CBS) - With its fate as a state agency threatened like never before, the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board is reporting record numbers for the just-concluded fiscal year.

The Liquor Control Board reports record sales of $1.96 billion dollars in the just-ended fiscal year, along with a record transfer to the state Treasury of almost half a billion dollars, a figure that includes profit and taxes that were collected.

LCB Chairman P.J. Stapleton says he believes those numbers result from the LCB's efforts to be more consumer friendly, "I think it reflects that, I think it reflects our efforts to run the PLCB like a business. Certainly we're very gratified at the results we were able to accomplish this year."

All this comes amid a new push to dismantle the state liquor sale system. "We're just reporting what are numbers were for the year," Stapleton says. "And the policymakers will make those decisions they feel are necessary based on a number of factors and hopefully, our increased and improved performance will be one of them."

But opponents of the state store system are unimpressed. A spokesman for the House majority leader says performing like business merely shows liquor sales should be a business and that the leader plans to roll out his privatization legislation in the coming days.

Reported by Harrisburg Bureau Chief Tony Romeo, KYW Newsradio 1060