Nip Fee Payouts: New Haven Gets $118K, Woodbridge $412 in Latest Round

NEW HAVEN, CT — New Haven collected $118,115.25 in Connecticut's latest six-month nip-fee payout, the most of any city or town, while Woodbridge got $412.40, among the five smallest payments in the state, according to figures from the Wine and Spirit Wholesalers of CT that CT News Junkie published Wednesday, Oct. 28.

The statewide distribution totaled $2.56 million across 162 towns. The program has sent $25 million to cities and towns since the first payout in April 2022, CT News Junkie reported.

What Each Town Received

The payments for the past six months, with the number of nips sold in each town:

• New Haven: $118,115.25 (2,362,305 nips)
• Bridgeport: $84,854.20 (1,697,084 nips)
• Meriden: $55,672.60 (1,113,452 nips)
• Hamden: $52,829.65 (1,056,593 nips)
• West Haven: $45,878.40 (917,568 nips)
• Southington: $38,868.85 (777,377 nips)
• Middletown: $36,965.95 (739,319 nips)
• Wallingford: $34,987.90 (699,758 nips)
• Branford: $21,432.05 (428,641 nips)
• East Haven: $20,867.90 (417,358 nips)
• Cheshire: $13,598.90 (271,978 nips)
• North Haven: $13,138.90 (262,778 nips)
• North Branford: $7,522.50 (150,450 nips)
• Orange: $5,604.45 (112,089 nips)
• Guilford: $5,455.80 (109,116 nips)
• Durham: $4,143.70 (82,874 nips)
• Prospect: $3,873.40 (77,468 nips)
• Bethany: $1,631.50 (32,630 nips)
• Woodbridge: $412.40 (8,248 nips)

Statewide, New Haven led the list, followed by Hartford, Bridgeport and Waterbury.

How the Fee Works

Every miniature 50 mL bottle of liquor, known as a nip, carries a 5-cent surcharge at the liquor store. Each town gets the nickel for every nip sold inside its borders, and wholesalers send the money out twice a year, in April and October, based on sales.

The money must go to environmental work such as litter cleanup, since nips often end up tossed along roadsides and sidewalks, CT News Junkie reported. The bottles cannot be returned for a refund, and they are too small to recycle effectively.

"This latest distribution puts another $2.5 million directly into the hands of our cities and towns to address local environmental needs," said Larry Cafero, who leads the wholesalers' group as its executive director and general counsel.

Towns have used the money for cleanups run by nonprofits, street sweepers, food composting programs and recycling staff, officials said, though Cafero said there is no system in place to track how it is spent.

Lawmakers have weighed a bottle deposit and an outright ban on nips in past sessions; some have called a ban extreme, CT News Junkie reported.

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