Funding of Constitutional Officers - Virginia Joint Legislative Audit ...

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ROLES OF THE STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS IN FUNDING FOR CONSTITUTIONAL OFFICERS Section 14.1-51 of the Code of Virginia establishes the duty of the State Compensation Board to fix the salaries and expenses for constitutional officers. To fulfill its duty to fix office expenses, the Compensation Board must first determine the staffing level it will "recognize" in each office. Recognized positions under the current system are positions that the Compensation Board officially approves for State and/or local government funding. Figure 1 shows the recent trend ofState recognized positions for the officers. In FY 1984, the Compensation Board recognized a total of 7,707 positions. At that time, more than 57 percent ofthe positions were recognized for the sheriffs' offices. By FY 1990, the number of recognized positions had grown to 9,732, an increase of more than 2,000 positions since 1984. In FY 1990, the positions for sheriffs' offices amount to 64 percent ofthe total number of positions recognized by the Compensation Board. For some of the offices (commissioners, treasurers, and directors of finance), the positions recognized by the Compensation Board are not the same as State-funded positions, because there is a local share for the recognized positions. The State Figure1------------- State Recognized Staffing of Constitutional Officers 7000 6000 5000 4000 ~ Q ... rn 3000 ~ • Sheriffs o Clerks ISJ Commissioners ofRevenue [] Treasurers [2;1 Commonwealth's Attorneys Data Not Available 2000 1000 0 1984 1985 1986 1987 Fiscal Year 1988 1989 1990 Source: State Compensation Board Data. 2
currently pays the following percentages of Compensation the staffofconstitutional officers: rel::og:ni2:ed costs • Sheriffs - 100 percent, • Commonwealth's attorneys - 100 percent, • Clerks of court - 100 percent (of costs not covered by fees), • Commissioners ofrevenue - 50 percent, • Treasurers - 50 percent, • Directors offinance - 50 percent. The resulting levels ofState funding of constitutional officers for the last six years are shown in Figure 2. In FY 1985, the appropriation for the officers totaled approximately $143 million. As the result ofsubstantial increases for sheriffs' offices, by FY 1990 the total appropriation had grown to more than $240 million. This increase was more than 67 percent in six years. The increase for sheriffs' offices alone was approximately 75 percent. Furthermore, although the total amount of funding for clerks' offices is not great, the increase in appropriations to cover deficit situations (in which fees do not fully cover service costs) more than tripled in the six-year period. Local governments also have a major role in funding constitutional officers. Local governments provide 50 percent ofthe funding for recognized positions in com- -------------- Figure 2-------------- $200 180 160 State Funding of Constitutional Officers 140 120 I:Il r::l 0 100 ....-.... ~ 80 60 • Sheriffs Q Commonwealth's Attorneys fS] Commissioners of Revenue Il]] Treasurers DClerks 40 20 0 r.:::::lr::.Jml l:::::lwtID $142,991,010 $148,032,879 $186,183,763 $189,127,374 $233,732,436 $240,456,632 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 Source: Appro,priations Acts. Fiscal Year 3
Page 3 and 4: REPORT OF THE LEGISLATIVE AUDIT AND
Page 5: Preface State funding for constitut
Page 8 and 9: e local governments' relative abili
Page 10 and 11: the constitutional offispecific eva
Page 12 and 13: current process, some changes in sy
Page 15: Table of Contents I. INTRODUCTION 1
Page 20 and 21: missioner of revenue, treasurer, an
Page 22 and 23: STUDY APPROACH JLARC staff develope
Page 24 and 25: differences in the ability of local
Page 26 and 27: cost responsibility for each catego
Page 28 and 29: Exhibit 1 Workload Factors Used in
Page 30 and 31: account for regional differences in
Page 32 and 33: Recommendation (3). The General Ass
Page 34 and 35: Recommendation (5). The General Ass
Page 36 and 37: cost re~;ponsJlbiJjty State should
Page 38 and 39: Exhibit 3, a "yes" has been placed
Page 40 and 41: For some other service categories,
Page 42 and 43: A variety of other revenue sources
Page 44 and 45: ------------- Exhibit5-------------
Page 46 and 47: greater or equal to 1.0 can raise m
Page 48 and 49: are divided evenly between the Stat
Page 50: a COJmnlOIllW€:a!t;h ft..,Uy,,, .
Page 53 and 54: The reimbursement cycle begins when
Page 55 and 56: process occurs prior to the assessm
Page 57: Appendixes ~ Appendix A: Study Mand
Page 60 and 61: AppendixB Mathematical Formulas Use
Page 62 and 63: Appendix B (Continued) Personnel Co
Page 64 and 65: Appendix B (Continued) Revenue Capa
Page 66 and 67: Appendix B (Continued) Personnel Co
Page 68 and 69:
Appendix: C Cost ResponsibilityAssi
Page 70 and 71:
Appendix C (Continued) COST RESPONS
Page 72 and 73:
Appendix C (Continued) COST RESPONS
Page 74:
AppendixD Local Revenue Capacity fo
Page 77 and 78:
Examples J.i"U.nClLlng 'O.J'U'..u''
Page 79 and 80:
State and Support for Sheriffs Offi
Page 82 and 83:
~ ~ State and Local Support for Com
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Ou,a~ll;;; and for Local J:l,;xBI.m
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State and Local Support for Sheriff
Page 88 and 89:
Local for Court Clerks: Example 2
Page 90 and 91:
•••••••••••
Page 92 and 93:
AppendixF Agency Response As partof
Page 94 and 95:
Introduction The Compensation Board
Page 96 and 97:
- DISAGREES that any stan rd should
Page 98 and 99:
RECOMMENDATION 1. The General Assem
Page 100 and 101:
determining judicial needs. As a re
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In the budget process currently use
Page 104 and 105:
It is a common misconception that t
Page 106 and 107:
The development of state/local perc
Page 108 and 109:
The Compensation Board AGREES with
Page 110 and 111:
AppendixG JLARC StaffComments on th
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officers could maintain monthly rec
Page 114 and 115:
expertise, level of automation, nat
Page 116 and 117:
such as is available in education f
Page 118 and 119:
etween workload indicators and the
Page 120 and 121:
government operations. This is expl
Page 122:
Recent JLARC Reports Organization o
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