The city is one step closer to assessing licensing fees on pool tables, jukeboxes, video poker machines and other amusement devices.

Kenosha’s Licensing and Permit Committee on Monday unanimously supported an ordinance to institute a $30 fee to license each amusement device in the city.

All manner of games, from pinball machines to shuffleboard, dart boards and all electronic, video and mechanical games, would be included.

Games, including video poker, that are considered “for amusement purposes only” also would be subject to this fee. Any machine used for gambling cannot be licensed and would be subject to regulation from the Department of Revenue and the district attorney’s office.

This concept was proposed by Kenosha Mayor Keith Bosman as part of the 2010 city budget. The original proposal would have charged $250 per device in an attempt to recover reductions from other revenue sources.

Concerns from local business owners led the Licensing and Permit committee last November to suggest lowering the fee to $30.

The latest proposal also would allow police officers to count the number of amusement devices in each establishment while checking on license compliance.

“It just makes it easier for the police department to enforce it,” said Alderman Jesse Downing.

The only amendment added Monday was to exempt special amusement device-based events, such as pool or dart tournaments.

“Sometimes you’ll have to bring in 25 or 50 pool tables or dart machines for these,” Downing said.

Kerry Raymond, co-owner of Sir Arthur’s Beer Garden, expressed thanks for the changes.

“Thanks for the effort to keep amusement fees reasonable and under control,” Raymond said.

The fee for having an unlicensed device would fall between $25 and $200 under the proposed ordinance.

The proposed ordinance is scheduled to reach the City Council next month.

Walgreens seeks licenses

Also on Monday, the committee deferred action on beer licenses for several Walgreens locations in the city.

The company was seeking beer licenses at all of its city locations: 3820 52nd St., 7535 Green Bay Road, 1810 30th Ave., 5711 Sixth Ave., 3805 80th St., and the recently opened location at 7525 Sheridan Road.

A company representative said Walgreens stopped selling beer and liquor at most of its stores 10 years ago. The company has received interest from customers to bring back beer sales, and the company is applying for those licenses in all locations where that option is available. The company also plans on adding back wine sales, but not hard liquor, in the future.

The committee deferred action on the proposals for 30 days due to questions about the impact of adding beer licenses in each of these locations.

“There are a significant number of requests and a great number of impacts,” said Alderman Ray Misner, chairman of the Licensing and Permit Committee.