For Immediate Release: Tuesday, October 4, 2022
Montgomery County Alcohol Beverage Services (ABS) has received the national “Best Practices Award” from trade magazine StateWays. It is the publication’s top honor among its nine annual awards.
StateWays is the only magazine devoted to issues affecting the alcohol control state system. It features articles that reflect all aspects of the control states’ mission of fiscal performance, promotion of responsible consumption, enforcement, retail sales and warehouse operations.
The Best Practices Awards program was launched in 2015 to recognize control state agencies that are leading the industry in innovation, education and enforcement. Any beverage control agency from the U.S. and Canada is eligible to enter the awards, which are presented in eight categories with one standout selected as the overall winner and serving as a model for other agencies to follow.
“ABS has acted nimbly and has remained steadfast in its commitment to customer service, even as it has faced rapidly changing conditions over the past couple of years,” said County Executive Marc Elrich. “I congratulate ABS and our hard-working employees on this well-deserved award.”
The StateWays magazine feature story announcing this year’s winners said: “ABS has successfully launched a number of new initiatives during the past year, along with revamping existing programs and processes to enhance administrative efficiencies and optimize customer service. While much of this work was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, ABS turned challenging circumstances into opportunities for improvement, illustrating why it is this year’s Overall Best Practices Award winner.”
StateWays recognized four innovations that contributed to its selection of ABS for the overall award:
Read the StateWays article at https://stateways.com/digital-archives/digital-edition-fall-2022/.
ABS Director Kathie Durbin said she is pleased with the award, but notes that it is only the beginning of an ongoing culture of innovation.
“We will continue working to enhance our programs while being a resource for local producers, industry partners and members of our community,” said Director Durbin.
The StateWays Best Practices Award will be presented to ABS at a ceremony on Oct. 25 at the National Alcohol Beverage Control Association’s Administrators Conference in Pittsburgh.
Seventeen states and all but one province in Canada operate under a similar alcohol model as Montgomery County. They oversee the sale of distilled spirits—and in some cases wine and beer—through government agencies at the wholesale level. The model allows revenue from alcohol sales to be returned to a general fund for public services.
ABS is the alcohol wholesaler of beer, wine and spirits for Montgomery County and operates 26 retail stores throughout the County. In addition, ABS manages alcohol licensing, enforcement and education for more than 1,000 businesses. Generating more than $35 million in net income annually, its profits are used to pay down County debt with a large portion deposited in the general fund to pay for resident services that would otherwise be funded by County tax dollars.
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