State to Auction Off Track Side's Liquor License

Daniella's Track Side Grille, a popular Fair Lawn restaurant and bar that was seized by the state in October for non-payment of taxes, will have its liquor license auctioned off next week.

The public auction, which will be held Wednesday at the New Jersey Division of Taxation's Fair Lawn office, begins at 10 a.m. The minimum bid is $50,000.

Proceeds from the sale of the liquor license will be used to pay down the $44,537 in outstanding sales and income taxes the restaurant owes the state, New Jersey Treasury Department spokesman Andrew Pratt said. If the liquor license goes for more than the restaurant owes in back taxes, that money will be returned to the business owners.

"Selling off a business's assets is a last resort," Pratt said. "The Division of Taxation tries to work with people to help them repay their taxes, but at a point if it becomes clear that there's no way the state is going to get the money it's owed then there's a seizure of assets."

Pratt said the restaurant had been in arrears on its sales taxes, which New Jersey businesses are required to charge on customer purchases and return to the state, since 2009.

If Track Side were to come up with the back taxes it owes before Wednesday's auction, it would be able to retain its liquor license, but Pratt said that is unlikely.

"If there were any way that a payment plan could be arranged there would have been in this case," he said. "The state always attempts first to set up a payment plan."

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