The Carrollton City Council will have to vote on changing an ordinance that would allow for Sunday sales of alcohol by the drink at restaurants in the city, but members of the council says there’s no risk that it might be voted down considering how overwhelmingly a referendum on the matter was approved by voters Tuesday night.

The measure authorizing the council to allow Sunday sales was passed handily on Tuesday with more than 58 percent approval, 1,233 votes to 833, and it is now up to the council to change the existing ordinance, which prohibits Sunday by the drink sales. City Manager Casey Coleman said the issue will be on the agenda for the next meeting of the Carrollton City Council, with the changes to the ordinance drafted in the meantime by City Attorney Chuck Conerly.

When it does come before the council, there’s little chance that the prospect of Sunday sales won’t receive the same amount of support that it received from the community at large, said Councilman Gerald Byrd.

“I don’t think there’s a chance that the council would vote that down,” Byrd said. “I think the council as a whole is in favor of it because it would increase revenue for our city.”

Byrd said that considering the fact that the national economy has been bogged down in a recession for many months now, the city needs to do everything it can to open up revenue sources.

“I think it’s very important to look for alternative revenue options because I don’t think a lot of people think to shop here when they need something,” Byrd said. “I think we need to make that part of our everyday thinking and living to keep our money at home, and I think this referendum does that.”

If the ordinance change is approved by the council, restaurants within the city limits which meet a number of requirements would be able to sell alcohol by the drink from 12:30 p.m. to midnight on Sundays. State law prohibits Sunday sales of packaged alcoholic beverages at stores, but a number of cities across the state have voted to allow by-the-drink sales for restaurants on Sunday, including Villa Rica.

Many area restaurants have come out in favor of Sunday sales, as has Carrollton Main Street.

As a tool to help area businesses make more money and to help bring in additional revenue to the city, the addition of Sunday sales will serve the community well, said Mayor Wayne Garner. For this reason, he said, it’s hard to imagine any ordinance change being shot down at this point.

“The council voted unanimously to let the people decide, and that’s what they wanted to do,” Garner said. “It would be crazy in my opinion to vote against what the public had said that they wanted to do. I don’t see any way that it would not be enacted.”

The next meeting of the City Council is on Dec. 7, and should the council approve the ordinance change, restaurants would be allowed to serve alcohol the following Sunday.