Idaho Liquor Division outlines FY2026 budget requests, highlights staffing and IT upgrades

The Idaho State Liquor Division told the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee on Wednesday that it distributed roughly $118.3 million in FY2024 under statutory formulas and is seeking targeted ongoing and one-time appropriations for FY2026 to address staffing turnover, store improvements and IT modernization.

Kellen McGurkin, a budget and policy analyst with the Legislative Services Office, opened the presentation and said the division’s statutory authority is in Title 23 of the Idaho Code and that FY2024 distributions totaled $118,300,000. McGurkin outlined the statutory flow of funds: a 2% surcharge on liquor sales that goes to the court services fund (about $6.7 million in FY2024), and the remainder distributed after the division accounts for operating costs and fund balances. He said roughly half of the available funds go to cities, counties and magistrate courts (about $56.3 million in FY2024) and the remainder is split after fixed distributions and statutory transfers.

The nut of the presentation focused on operating pressures and discrete budget requests. Andrew Arulanandam, director of the Idaho State Liquor Division, described persistent turnover among temporary store clerks and a five-year staffing picture that left the agency with an authorized FTP cap of 257.25 but a filled FTP near…