RALEIGH, N.C. — The state Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission has increased a warehousing contract that the state auditor criticized last year, apparently after the vendor shipped thousands of cases of liquor for free for years.
The commission voted on the increase in March, agreeing to pay LB&B Associates $2,000 for every load the company moves beyond the 333 loads a month it agreed to handle in a contract that dates to 2011.
LB&B doesn’t produce the liquor, but it warehouses it and delivers it to local ABC boards. Before this amendment, the company’s contract totaled about $8 million a year.
The State Auditor’s Office said last year that poor management of the contract, and excess liquor warehouse space in Clayton, cost the state nearly $14 million over more than a decade, and it criticized the ABC for failing to properly evaluate past contract increases.
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