Libertyville bars may soon be forced to close an hour earlier, as officials are readying to make changes to the town's liquor laws.

Police Chief Clint Herdegen said with most of the surrounding towns closing earlier than Libertyville, as much as 30 percent of the department's bar-related calls between 9 p.m. and 3 a.m. come during the last hour of service on weekends.

Aligning Libertyville's laws with nearby communities could help reduce those calls to police, he said.

Police reports show that a significant number of customers come from those other towns to make it to Libertyville for an extended last call, Herdegen said.

The proposed change would mean bars would have to close by 1 a.m. during the week, and 2 a.m. on weekends.

Other changes included creating a new class of license that would allow more tastings throughout the year and putting a BYOB law on the books for the first time.

Trustee Jim Moran was the only board member to vote against the measure.

He questioned how much the reduced hours would impact bar owners.

He said he preferred giving bars the option of paying an additional fee to stay open another hour, and address problems on a case-by-case basis.

"Being a restaurant and tavern community, that's important to the businesses in our community, and that's something that I'm really worried about, the economic impact for the business owners," Moran said. "Also for the village, as we're looking to increase our sales-tax revenue in our community, I have no idea how this is going to impact that, but I don't see this increasing our sales tax revenue."

Ed Downing, owner of Downing's Tavern, located at 431 S. Milwaukee Ave., said closing earlier would hurt his business, though he wasn't sure of the exact amount he would stand to lose.

Officials said they would contact bar owners in town and urge them to attend the board's discussion on the matter, which could happen at the next meeting on May 13.

Moran also asked whether Herdegen had any idea whether earlier closing times would just move problems up an hour, but Herdegen said he assumed a certain number of issues would be eliminated by closing at the same time as towns like Vernon Hills, Grayslake, Gurnee and Buffalo Grove.

"Along with Mundelein, we're the only one open until 2 o'clock during the week and 3 o'clock on Friday and Saturday night," Herdegen said. "I'm not trying to represent that we don't already have calls for service at the liquor-serving establishments an hour before closing time, as well. We'll still see a certain amount of calls for service related to the sale of alcohol, that's inherent in their business."

Herdegen said no particular incident prompted the changes, but he wanted to get Libertyville's laws in line with other communities.

The board's action came after a recommendation from the town's license and permits committee.

As far as the BYOB changes, officials said there is at least one business in town that allows customers to bring their own booze, but the new rule would start charging for that privilege.

Those wishing to allow BYOB would have to get a certificate of insurance and put rules and procedures in place for corking bottles.

Restaurants, theaters or other entertainment venues would have to pay between $250 and $500 annually for the new class of license.

The alterations to the tasting rules are twofold: Retailers of beer, wine or alcohol could sell the product in its original package and offer a limited amount of samples on-site through a new type of license, and another change would double the number of tastings for a level one license — which includes places like grocery stores — to 150 days per year.

dwaters@tribune.com

Twitter: @danwaters33