MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Within the proposed 2018 General Fund budget is additional millions for district attorneys and the court system – if the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board raises its markup on bottles of liquor by 5 percent.

But some lawmakers are balking at what they’re calling a tax increase made by an unelected body.

According the General Fund budget legislation, which has already cleared the Alabama House, a 5-percent increase in the current 30-percent markup on retail and wholesale bottles would generate $8.2 million in additional revenue for the $1.8 billion budget.

The budget allocates $2.2 million of that to the Unified Judicial System; $6 million would go to the state’s district attorneys.

“I’m not against these markups, I’m against them coming through the backdoor of the Statehouse,” Sen. Bill Holtzclaw, R-Madison, said Thursday.

A fee increase is a tax and it should come from the Legislature, he said.

Holtzclaw raised similar issues two years ago when the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency increased the cost of a driver’s license. He recently introduced Senate Bill 232. It sets the state’s markup at its March 1, 2017, level, and says any other markup on the sale of alcoholic beverages by the ABC “shall not be increased except by a bill enacted into law by the Legislature.”

“If it’s a true need, let’s bring it out in the light,” he said.

District attorneys around the state have talked for years about their needs. Currently, the 42 district attorneys around the state receive about $26 million in state funding. That’s down from about $40 million in 2010.

There are now about 320 full- and part-time prosecutors around the state, handling thousands of felonies each year, said Barry Matson, executive director of the Office of Prosecution Services.

“When there are fewer of you, you can’t give the same scrutiny to cases,” Matson said on Friday. “That’s a public safety issue. Cases are more complex now than they’ve ever been and they require more time and expertise from prosecutors.”

Matson said other sources of revenue for district attorneys are also down, including fines for worthless checks because people are writing less of them in general. And, a bail bond fee enacted by the Legislature several years ago isn’t bringing in the expected revenue.

In 2015, Calhoun County passed a local bill allowing the liquor markup there, with the money benefiting the local district attorney. Some other counties have since followed suit.

Matson said the statewide initiative would help all district attorneys and keep liquor prices even county to county.

Sen. Dick Brewbaker, R-Montgomery, this session sponsored local bills increasing the markup by 5 percent in Autauga, Chilton, Elmore and Montgomery counties.

“We’re supposed to set taxation policy, not an unelected commission,” Brewbaker said Thursday. He’s now a co-sponsor on Holtzclaw’s bill.

He said constituents who don’t like the local markup increases can express themselves at the ballot box.

“But they have no influence over the ABC board,” he said.

Another local bill would provide the same 5-percent increase in Lee County. Brewbaker said senators have been told those bills are currently on hold.

Sen. Trip Pittman chairs the Senate General Fund committee. On Thursday, he was conflicted about Holtzclaw’s bill.

“Considering that (the 5-percent markup) is in the budget, it would probably be nice if it stayed in the budget,” Pittman, R-Daphne, said. “But I think Sen. Holtzclaw has a point on the transparency side.”

Attempts to reach ABC officials last week were not successful.

Rep. Steve Clouse, R-Ozark, is the House General Fund chairman. That body approved the budget earlier this month.

“Instead of getting uneven prices all over the state, (ABC) made the decision to do a statewide markup,” Clouse said. Clouse said ABC worked with the DAs and court system.

Nixing the increase would impact funding to several agencies, Clouse said.

“That’s the reason we have the ABC board, to take care of all these pricing and regulatory issues of alcohol,” he said. “If we’re going to get involved in ABC pricing, that’s a slippery slope.”

Meanwhile, Matson said DAs don’t have the money for experts or witnesses to travel in for cases where their testimony could be crucial.

“We’ve got DAs at the end of last fiscal year, they were at the point of bouncing payroll,” he said. “This money will impact locally a service that is vital.”