Liquid assets

Every piece of consumable merchandise at the former city liquor store will be making a trip a few blocks down the road to be sold.

At the July 26 bid opening for the municipal liquor store inventory, Lynn’s Dakotamart was the highest bidder for all of the merchandise at the store—liquor, beer, wine, tobacco and miscellaneous.

Lynn’s bid $45,037.27 for the liquor, which was valued at $56,296.59. However, Lynn’s will have to pay the 10 percent tax on the alcohol to the city, which means the city will come up only about $5,000 short on the valuation of the alcohol. Fresh Start was the only other bidder on the alcohol, with a bid of $30,000.

Lynn’s will also pay $6,607.14 for the beer at the store (valuation of $8,258.92), $19,579.70 for the wine ($24,474.63), $620.22 for the tobacco ($1,240.44) and $796.15 for the other miscellaneous consumables, such as snacks. Those had a vaulation of $1,592.29.

All told, Lynn’s will pay around $72,000 for the total inventory, which had a valuation of around $92,000, meaning the city will receive roughly 78 percent of the valuation. Lynn’s moved the product out of the old store last week.

At that same meeting, the council discussed its options for what to do with the building in which the store operated out of and the land on which it sits, but no decision was made. Among the ideas being considered are selling the property, leasing the store, leasing the land or putting it out to bid with a liquor license. The council decided not to subdivide the land yet.

Finally, Mayor Harold Stickney appointed three council members to serve on the joint city/Custer Community Health Services, Inc., committee that will explore the formation of a hospital district. Those three council members are Duane Murphey, Corbin Herman and Gary Lipp.