StateWays is the only magazine exclusively covering the control state system within the beverage alcohol industry, with annual updates from liquor control commissions and alcohol control boards and yearly fiscal reporting from control jurisdictions
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but the adoption of eLicensing will soon retire these antiquated methods and reduce costs and promote efficiency. Unveiled to the public in November 2010, the DUI Simulator is an educational initiative that has become wildly popular at high schools, colleges and events across the state. The purchase of this Simulator was the result of a $90,000.00 endowment from State Farm Insurance and a grant from the Governor's Highway Safety Program (GHSP), which continues to provide funding for this program and reduce the operational cost to the WVABCA. Student participants experience the difficul- ties drivers encounter at various blood alcohol content (BAC) levels. A touch screen kiosk collects statistical information from the students to demonstrate the very real dangers of driving under the influence, DUI simu- lator evaluation reports and other studies conducted throughout the year. Each visit also includes a classroom lecture. The West Virginia Alcohol Beverage Control Administration had an extremely productive year. We look forward to moving to our new location, moderniz- ing our systems, and achieving new levels of success in the coming years. Wyoming Ed Schmidt Wyoming Department of Revenue The Wyoming Liquor Division (WLD) con- tributed a record high of $12,759,110 to the State's General Fund in FY 2011, continuing a decade-long growth in profits generat- ed from excise taxes, liquor and wine sales. Retail Sales/Trends During FY 2011 a total of 834,894 cases were sold. This is a 2.59 percent increase over FY 2010 sales. The FY 2011 dollar amount of cases sold was $86,230,481, equaling a 3.5 percent increase from FY 2010. Fortunately these sales trends indicate that the Liquor/Wine industry in Wyoming continues to be very healthy despite a nationwide recession. Liquor Division Warehouse and IT Department The WLD's new 145,000 square foot warehouse facility is under construction and on schedule to open in February, 2012. The Division is busy plan- ning the very complex move and hopes to limit the amount of operational down time to a few days. A new RightFax system, which gives the option to email or fax orders with the same ease and efficien- StateWays s www.stateways.com s September/October 2011 cy, will be ready by the time the WLD moves to its new location. The new facility is significantly larger and conve- niently located near Interstate 80, east of Cheyenne. The office structure will have approximately 15,000 square feet of newly constructed offices for Division staff. The warehouse is approximately 145,000 square feet and has 17 dock doors and significantly more space for parking and receiving trucks. The addition- al warehouse space will allow for separate receiving and shipping areas, additional square footage for more "push back racking," a separate split case-conveyor picking line, and a "pick-to-voice" paperless comput- erized pick ticket system. The new office building will house a 50 seat multi-purpose conference room to be used for staff training, industry rep meetings and TIPS training. It is anticipated that this multi-purpose room will be used by other Divisions of the Department of Revenue as well. Compliance The Regulatory Section of the Wyoming Liquor Division has three main functions, enforcement of Wyoming's alcohol beverage control laws, review of all liquor licensing and serve as a resource to the local licensing authorities and education which can be any- thing from alcohol server training to the training of city and county clerks and their staffs in licensing and alco- hol law. In FY11 the regulatory agents completed over 2600 on-site unannounced inspections which result- ed in a 12 percent increase over FY2010. The com- pliance rate for FY2011 inspections was 95.8 percent which is a slight decrease from FY2010. The small decrease was mainly due to administrative errors which were corrected at the time of inspection. The Liquor Division once again partnered with the Wyoming State Liquor Association in providing alcohol server training utilizing the TIPS program. This collaboration trained 2051 students in FY2011 which is well over the goal of 1750 students trained per year. Regulatory agents reviewed over 1300 retail liquor license applications that were eventually issued or renewed by local licensing authorities. In addition the division's agents also reviewed and processed well over 850 applications that included direct shippers, industry representatives, malt bever- age wholesalers, manufacturers and charter trans- portation. The wine direct ship program is administered by the regulatory staff. In FY2011, 5182 invoices were processed which is a slight decrease from FY2010, how- ever the dollar amount of total invoices processed increased by a little over 4 percent. In the upcoming year the Wyoming Liquor Division looks forward to the expansion of its facilities and the corresponding improvement of service to our shareholders. SW 31