WYOMING LIQUOR DIVISION
Brenda Henson , Director of the the Wyoming Liquor Division , and Tom
Montoya , Administrator .
“ We will also have access to better reporting systems than we have ever had before .”
– Thomas Montoya , Administrator of the division division to compete . ( Although the Wyoming legislature did approve a state-employee wage increase in 2022 .)
Government budget cuts were also a factor in 2020 . While the division saw some increases to its operating budget this year , it is still dealing with those ramifications .
On July 1 , 2022 , the state legislature allocated additional funds for the division to increase its total number of employees from 41 to 51 , a number that had been reduced after the onset of the pandemic . Twenty-nine of those positions are warehouse employees . However , not all those roles have been filled due to hiring and retention issues . The division estimates to generally have at least 15 % of its warehouse positions open at any given time .
Another result of pandemic-related budget cuts was the temporary elimination of the state ’ s online Alcohol Server TIPS Training Program , which the Division had offered since 1997 .
Although the program was voluntary , it was extremely popular , with up to 3,000 individuals completing the training each year . The program was suspended in 2020 until July 2022 . During that time , very few server trainings took place across the state .
The division and other partners had to rely on distributing outdated printed materials upon request , and also received a small grant enabling them to print some additional materials until the online program was refunded .
The pandemic remains ongoing , but division operations have slowly begun to return to normal . Liquor sales across the states are beginning to normalize since the beginning of the pandemic , when they spiked by as much as 3 % — a large amount considering that most on-premise establishments were closed during this time .
The pandemic also had an impact on licensees . Although the division does not issue retail liquor licenses , which are handled at the local municipal level , it does review every liquor license application to ensure that it meets all statutory requirements . Wyoming also
12 StateWays | www . stateways . com | Winter 2022