We recently had a local option election which passed. The City of Plainview is now open to any kind of sale of any kind of alcoholic beverage that can be sold. I have two questions:

1. Our county clerk has called around to other counties to find out about their procedures, and has found that counties charge anywhere from $5.00 to $30.00 to file an application for a beer license from the county judge.

Section 61.31(c) of the Alcoholic Beverage Code provides that the clerk may charge a $5.00 "hearing fee" to an applicant, and that the applicant is not liable for any other fees, except the license fees. Does anyone know of any other provision that would allow the clerk to charge more than $5.00 to file an application?

2. My other question is Section 11.38 and 61.36 authorize a county or city to collect up to half the license or permit fees for local use. These sections say "may" charge. That would indicate to me that we need to have commissioners court action to adopt that schedule, but TABC says its automatic. Any thoughts?