State Liquor Agency Paid Out Too Much Auditors Find Sloppy Oversight; State’s Money Since Recovered

Checks on expenditures were so inadequate at the state agency controlling liquor distribution in Idaho that thousands of dollars in overpayments were made from mid-1993 to mid-1994, legislative auditors found.

The money was eventually recovered by the State Liquor Dispensary, and Superintendent Dyke Nally has initiated corrective action.

“These types of expenditures can occur because the Dispensary expenditure system lacks proper management oversight,” the legislative audit said.

Auditors found that the city of Hayden Lake was given more than $64,000 as its share of liquor profits when it was entitled to less than $3,000.

They also said that the agency paid the $165 monthly rent on one contract retail store for five months after it burned down and arrangements had been made that no longer required the rent payment.

And a $143-a-month payment was made for nearly two years after the agency’s obligation under a lease-purchase contract was fulfilled.

Nally said the Dispensary’s automated accounting system may be modified to set predetermined payment levels or payment numbers.

In another report, the auditors again criticized the Fish and Game Department for its handling of contracts, particularly the fact that it has a history of advancing the cash before the work is done.

During the most recent audit period from mid-1994 to mid-1995, another contract was found under which the $91,000 amount was advanced to the contractor even though the deal called for payment after the work was done.

In the case of one of the earlier contracts that cash was advanced on, the auditors said $45,000 was still in the hands of the contractor and no work was planned for it.

Department officials said, however, that for that contract, the department and the contractor had been advised to wait until after this month before returning the money.

But they also said department biologists have been instructed to use different contract forms that allow advance payments with assurances that how the money is spent will be documented.