Idaho Liquor Division details distributions, staffing pressures and IT, ADA upgrade requests

The Idaho State Liquor Division told the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee on Wednesday that it distributed roughly $118.3 million to state and local recipients in fiscal 2024 and is seeking modest ongoing and one-time appropriations for staffing, technology security and store replacement items in fiscal 2026.

Kellen McGurkin, a budget and policy analyst with the Legislative Services Office, told the committee the division’s statutory distributions (per Idaho Code) totaled about $118.3 million in FY2024 and described how those distributions are calculated under Idaho Code §23-404. He said a 2% surcharge on all liquor sales produced roughly $6.7 million for the court services fund and that, after operating costs and fund-balance requirements, available funds are split, with roughly one half going to cities, counties and magistrate courts (about $56.3 million) and the other half subject to fixed distributions and transfers to the general fund and other statutory recipients.

The context matters because the division is a dedicated-fund agency that must cover retail operations, merchandise costs and statutory distributions from the same revenue stream. McGurkin noted the division reported $319.1 million in total sales for…