(WTAE) - The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board's finance director is advocating that the agency increase its markup on liquor and wine to counter higher expenses.

In an internal memo obtained by The Associated Press, August Hehemann proposed that the markup be raised from 30 percent, the rate that has stood since 1993, to 35 percent.
   
He said the agency's net income is expected to shrink in the fiscal year that started July 1, to $96 million from $121 million in the previous year largely due to double-digit increases in expenses such as pensions, health care and computer upgrades postponed from prior years.
   
"The decline in net income is attributed to operating expense growth of 11.8 percent, which is almost four times the rate of planned growth in sales," he wrote in the July 30 memo, which laid out issues for a private board discussion before its regular public meeting that day.
   
Chairman Joseph "Skip" Brion said Tuesday the three-member board discussed Hehemann's analysis as part of an annual financial review, but that there's no proposal before the board to increase the markup. He says he regards any such action as a last resort.
   
"There's always been a discussion about the last time the markup was increased," he said in a telephone interview. "From my perspective at this point in time, it's not a viable option."