New Hanover liquor chief's pension almost $100K

WILMINGTON, N.C. — A local liquor board chief at the core of a controversy over extravagant spending in North Carolina's alcoholic beverage system says he will collect nearly $100,000 annually in retirement.

The StarNews of Wilmington reported Tuesday that New Hanover County Alcoholic Beverage Control administrator Billy Williams said he's gotten state notification he'll receive about $8,300 a month.

Williams said last week he would retire at the end of next month as he reaches 42 years of working for the local liquor board. He has been administrator since 1987.

All three members of the local ABC board resigned after WRAL Investigates reported that Williams had an annual salary of $232,200, and his son, Bradley, was paid $115,500 a year as assistant ABC administrator. Both men also collected hefty annual bonuses.

Billy Williams was the highest-paid ABC administrator in the state, despite the fact that areas like Mecklenburg County sold far more liquor, according to WRAL Investigates.

ABC liquor stores across the state have a wide range of employee salaries and policies. Fewer than half of the 163 local boards said they have salary policies, and a little more than half have an ethics policy in place.

Top 15 ABC board salaries

Click here to load this Caspio Bridge DataPage.

---

Information from: The StarNews

52 Comments

WRAL.com welcomes your comments on this story. All comments are moderated prior to publication based on our posting guidelines. Please review them prior to posting and if your message is not approved.

VIEW ALL 52 COMMENTS

This story is closed for comments. Comments on WRAL.com news stories are accepted and moderated between the hours of 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Latest Comments

If you look at the percent of top salary to total sales... it's pretty telling that all of the boards pay a heck of a lot. The two boards which make the most, pay the least percentage-wise. None of this data tells us how much the entire board pays to its employees though... that would be very interesting.

1. Gastonia (1.11%) 2. Concord (.89%) 3. New Hanover(.80%) 4. Carteret (.76%) 5. Asheville (.74%) 6. Dare (.68%) 7. Onslow (.63%) 8.Catawba (.62%) 9. Orange (.62%) 10. Durham (.49%) 11. Cumberland (.42%) 12. Greensboro (.36%) 13. Triad Municipal (.31%) 14. Wake (.19%) 15. Mecklenburg(.16%)

CB123
January 19, 2010 6:49 p.m.

Looks to me that the guy in Asheville has got the best deal...

fatcat11
January 19, 2010 6:31 p.m.

"Not your Tax money, they make a profit selling booze, therefore need to be compensated accordingly. Stop you dam complaining its your own faults and choices. Dont hate the game, hate yourself." berenj

WOW.

(Might be one of my all-time favorite postings! Thanks berenj!)

wat63
January 19, 2010 5:39 p.m.

While I think these are extreme salaries at first glance, if you look at each county's total as if it were a private business's annual revenue and these are the CEOs being paid, it doesn't look so severe based upon what's typically paid for salaries in the private sector. That's not to say it's right (or remotely ethical how it's worked out in this case), but it definitely isn't abnormal in comparison.

dogluvr26
January 19, 2010 4:49 p.m.

An intelligent and informed voter is necessary to the creation and preservation of a free republic. We may not like what we see in our leaders but they did not get there without our permission. We have seen the enemy and it is us.