Last call in Balaton?

Nervous residents air grievances as city council ponders closure of municipal liquor store

More than 70 people filled half of the Balaton Community Center last Friday to kick off another weekend. The mood didn’t reflect anything close to happy hour, however.

Expressing frustration, angst with passion and some colorful language, former and current Balaton residents pulled no punches as they addressed the Balaton City Council about the future of the City-owned Balaton Liquor Store, which is also home to a bar.

The council called the public hearing as a step in determining the next step in resolving an issue that has hung over the City’s head for years. And the state of the liquor store and its possible demise also conjured up memories among Balaton residents of what happened when the City lost its nursing home in 2019.

“This sounds very similar to the nursing home, and look at the situation the nursing home put us into — $300,000 in debt that it cost the taxpayers,” said council member Curt Paradis. “This is going down that same road; I’m not saying it can’t be fixed … but it’s going down the same road where it’s going to be a burden on the taxpayers. I don’t want (the liquor store) to close, but we’re going down that same road, and I don’t want to see that happen again.”

Paradis reminded residents that the City recently hired an engineering company to begin the process of improving the town’s infrastructure, so using any City monies for the liquor store might not be feasible.

“Doing this one thing to save the bar might hinder the rest of the town in the development to getting it better,” Paradis said. “The people who come to the council meetings on a regular basis have heard the complaints about the streets, the sewer, the water — things that need to be fixed. We’re trying to do that, but if we have to take money to keep this going, we’re back behind the 8-ball on everything else again.”

No vote was taken Friday; instead, after closing the public hearing, the council continued discussion in an open meeting setting and moved to seek further advice from the City’s attorney and take up the matter at a future hearing. The majority of those in attendance left once the public hearing ended.

“We will probably have another public hearing this month sometime to figure out how we are going to transfer money from one entity to another,” Balaton Mayor Lonnie Lambertus told the few audience members who stuck around. “We have to figure out how to fund it.”

According to statistics provided by the City, the liquor store and bar is currently operating in a deficit, continuing a troubling trend that dates back at least five years.

The business experienced a net profit of $14,242 in 2021 but a $1,386 net loss the following year. The year 2023 brought another net profit ($7,820) but things have been on the decline since. In 2024, the liquor store’s net loss was $20,799, and last year, the deficit ballooned to $34,839.02 (unaudited).

In January 2025, the ending balance for the business was $40,175.90. In nine of the next 11 months, the month-end balance was lower than the previous month, settling at only $7,537.83 after expenses. It was the second year-end deficit in the last three years.

Not long after Lambertus read off those numbers, bullets from the pubic started flying, and the council was in the bullseye.

Resident Lou Anderson questioned the council on why it took so long to take any kind of action concerning the liquor store.

“Even six months into 2024, you had to know this was losing money,” Anderson said. “Why didn’t you have a meeting, and look at it and say, ‘Hey how can we do this better? How can we save money? You should’ve given the bar manager the opportunity to make recommendations on how to save our liquor store.”

Bob Gilman, who doesn’t live in Balaton but owns two homes there, opened his remarks by talking about all the aspects a bar brings to small towns.

“A small-town bar is a community center where regulars go to meet people, talk about things — it’s a place where you can see and talk to anybody you want,” Gilman said. “If you close it, we will lose a sense of community.”

Gilman quickly shunned his subtley when he called out council members about the lack of communication from the City to either the current or past bar manager.

“None of you actually said, ‘We are losing (expletive) money left and right,” he said, eliciting staggered applause from the crowd. “You didn’t say (expletive), nothing! Why not? If I’m an owner and I’m losing money left and right (expletive), I’m gonna bring it up to her. And I’m gonna ask her what we can do to fix it.”

Former resident Drew Nelson said closing the liquor store is akin to giving up part of the community.

“You don’t get that back,” Nelson said. “There’s a lot of people that aren’t from here that want to be a part of this community — it’s not because of cheap beer over there, it’s because of the people and the connections that they’ve made.”

Ideas to possibly remedy the situation were shared by Gilman and others. Those included raising drink prices and hosting more events there. Another “last resort” idea was to move the liquor store into the community center. Near the end of the meeting, there was also talk about hosting some kind of fundraiser, with proceeds going into a liquor store account.

Because the liquor store is an enterprise fund, the City does not budget for it. An enterprise fund must be selfsustained.

If the City were to move to fund the business, Lambertus said another special hearing would be required, as would a budget amendment.

“By law, we cannot put money into it,” Lambertus said. “It has to be selfsupporting.”

While no one in attendance Friday wishes to see the City close the liquor store, a couple people noted the fact that business isn’t exactly hopping on a consistent basis — one that would allow it to be profitable.

“The numbers speak for themselves,” said Jen Wahl. “Everyone here wants to keep the liquor store open — ‘We support it, we love it, we hang out there’ — two Saturdays ago, there were two cars there. If everyone in this room really supported it, we wouldn’t be there. How are you going to make payroll if you don’t all go in there?”

Another audience member conceded that the place was “dead” on a couple recent Saturdays, but was packed on a different Saturday. That person stated that there needs to be more event planning to bring more people to the building.

Gilman also asked why so much has been invested in the major renovations for the community center, a building, he said, is used “1214 times a year at most.” Later in the meeting, it was noted that the City didn’t pay for those upgrades. The Balaton American Legion Post 237, Balaton Area Community Foundation and Balaton Area Chamber of Commerce footed the bill.

Lambertus noted that the City is breaking even with offsale beer and liquor sales.

Ashley Haroldson, the current manager of the liquor store, said she moved to Balaton for the job, and told the council she wish she would’ve been made privy to the finances woes facing the liquor store, and members of the audience took the council to task as to why nothing has been said publicly about the liquor store’s dire financial situation.

“It makes me look bad as a manager,” she said. “I’m trying to figure why our numbers are off, trying to figure out how to get more people into the bar. Had I known where we were at this entire time, things would’ve been different. This is more than a bar to me, this is a family, this is a place where people go and have fun. You can go in there on the worst day of your life and you know somebody’s going to be in there to help you. That’s something big in a small town.”

Haroldson added that she is frustrated that she has no answers for those who ask about the bar’s future and worries about her personal future as it pertains to a paycheck and how long she’ll have her job.

“It’s been very, very stressful on me,” Haroldson said. “People asking how come you’re losing so much money? I didn’t even know we were losing that much money. I want to see the bar stay open; anything people are willing to do, I’m willing to try.”

She also chastised the council for not frequenting the bar often, or for buying liquor out of town.

“It would be nice to see more than two of you guys in that bar,” she said.

Councilmember Dylan Fricke, who also serves on the liquor store committee with fellow council member Tracy McCloud, stressed that the council does not lay any blame at Haroldson’s feet.

“If you look at the numbers from last year to this year, it is cut and dry — you can see a loss of revenue; it is not because Ashley didn’t try,”said Fricke. “She tried to have events.”

Councilmember Greg Erickson, echoed Fricke’s sentiment about Haroldson, saying the bottom line is that people just don’t have the appetite to patronize the bar..

“This has nothing to do with Ashley,” he said. “It all has to do with people going to that bar — they’re not going in there. During happy hour, if there’s a half dozen people in there buying $3 drinks, that barely covers one hour’s wage. People are not going into that bar anymore. I don’t want to see the thing close, but I don’t want to put the burden on the taxpayers.”

The future of a municipal business such as the liquor store can be put on an election ballot as long as at least 5% of the city’s registered voters approve of it. Also, a municipal business must have a net loss in at least two years in a three-year span before a public hearing can be held.

One resident presented a petition on the matter Friday in support of keeping the liquor store open and said it includes signatures that represent 5% of the voting public.

“Changes have to be made, we know that,” the person said, “but you have to give someone the chance to make the changes.”

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A small-town bar is a community center where regulars go to meet people, talk about things — it’s a place where you can see and talk to anybody you want. If you close it, we will lose a sense of community.

— BOB GILMAN, BALATON HOMEOWNER