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

differences in the ability of localities to pay for a portion of the costs. This step is
essential to tax equity because local tax resources to provide for local shares of the
costs are not evenly distributed. Therefore, each local government's ability to generate
revenues should be taken into account, so that the proportion of available local
resources required to provide the services does not vary greatly across localities.
Accountability. An important third goal considered as part of this study was
accountability, because it can guide how both service equity and tax equity can be
implemented. JLARC staffdefined the goal of accountability for this study as follows:
Accountability is the provision ofappropriate budgeting, reporting,
and expenditure controls to ensure proper use ofState funds, while
providing for maximum freedom in local decisionmaking concerning
the design, structure, operation, and use offunding for local services.
This third goal calls for an administrative structure for the funding of constitutional
officers which would recognize the essentially local nature of the service provided by
the officers.
Research Components
To address the funding goals of service equity, tax equity, and accountability,
five research activities were undertaken by JLARC staff. The five research components
encompass the steps necessary to estimate the costs for constitutional officer
staffing, and to apportion responsibility for the costs equitably between the State and
local governments.
Service Cost Analysis. The first research activity focused on developing
staffing cost estimates, to address service equity. Staffing estimates developed for the
four JLARC staffreports on workload and staffing standards for constitutional officers
were used to determine the number ofstaffpositions to be recognized by the State for
each local office. These staffpositions were one factor determining the personnel cost
estimates for each local office. Other factors determining personnel cost estimates
included a uniform statewide salary base, an option to recognize the cost ofcompeting
for personnel in higher cost labor markets, and uniform recognition of fringe benefit
costs. In addition, JLARC staff gathered data for each office on non-personnel costs,
such as for office administration and mileage reimbursement.
Cost Responsibility Analysis. The cost responsibility analysis was the first of
the research components to address the funding goal oftax equity. Decision rules were
developed for analyzing cost responsibility for each service category of each constitutionalofficer.
These decision rules were used to determine whether the costs of each
service category appeared to be primarily State, primarily local, or shared responsibility.
Ability-to-Pay Analysis. The second research component to address the tax
equity goal was the ability-to-pay analysis. For this analysis, JLARC staff obtained
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