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

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Recommendation (3). The General Assembly may wish to recognize the increased cost ofcompeting for personnel in Northern Virginia offices by establishing a salary differential for the staffofconstitutional officers based on the differential for State employees with similarjob functions and titles. -------------Table4------------- Optional Cost of Competing Differentials and Adjusted FY 1991 and FY 1992 Salaries for use in Planning District 8 Office Staff Differential FY 1991 Adjusted Salary FY 1992 Adjusted Salary Sheriff Commonwealth's Attorney (Legal) Commonwealth's Attorney (Support) Clerk of Court Commissioner of Revenue Treasurer Director ofFinance 10.6% 19.3% 17.2% 15.4% 17.1% 17.4% 16.7% $24,807 $42,648 $22,736 $25,446 $23,404 $23,128 $24,409 $25,713 $44,204 $23,566 $26,376 $24,259 $23,972 $25,301 Source: JLARC analysis ofdata from Department ofPersonnel and Training, Compensation Board. Deyeloping Statewide Fringe Benefit Costs In addition to salary costs for the staffof the constitutional offices, it is also necessary to account for the costs of recognized fringe benefits. The Compensation Board currently provides reimbursement for all or a portion of the employer costs for Social Security, group life insurance, and retirement benefits. These three benefits are funded as a percentage of employee salaries. Social Security rates are established by federal law. The rate for fiscal years 1991 and 1992 is 7.65 percent of salary. Group life insurance rates are established by the Virginia Supplemental Retirement System (VSRS). The rate for the constitutional officers for FY 1991 and FY 1992 is 1.02 percent of salary. Separate retirement benefit rates are established by the Virginia Supplemental Retirement System for each local government in Virginia. The rates for fiscal years 1991 and 1992 vary from 3.65 percent to 11.9 percent ofsalary. The appropriate rate for each county and city was used for the analysis in this report. 16
Recommendation (4). The General Assembly may wish to establish a statewide fringe benefits package to be used in calculating the staffing costs to be recognized for State funding. NON-PERSONNEL COSTS The Compensation Board currently provides for reimbursement of certain non-personnel costs such as office expenses, mileage, and equipment. The reimbursements range from 100 percentofapproved costs for sheriffs, clerks, and Commonwealth's attorneys, to 33 percent ofcertain costs for treasurers, commissioners ofrevenue, and directors offinance. These percentages are shown in Table 5. The adequacy and appropriateness of reimbursements for these non-personnel costs were not reviewed for this study. However, given the concerns raised about the equity ofallocations ofstaffpositions, the Compensation Board may want to review the procedures used to allocate funding for non-personnel costs. Specifically, the Compensation Board should assess the extent to which non-personnel cost reimbursements are adequate across the offices, given variations in workload~staffing, and other factors which might affect such costs. For this study, an amount for level funding of non-personnel costs has been included in the illustrative examples in Appendix E to ensure that total costs are allocated. The costs are based on the approved non-personnel costs for FY 1990. For each category of costs, the current proportions of reimbursement have been maintained. ------------Table5------------- Percentages ofApproved Costs Reimbursed by the State Compensation Board Office Office Expenses Mileage Equipment Sheriff Commonwealth's Attorney Clerk of Court Commissioner of Revenue Treasurer Director ofFinance 100% 100% 100% 50% 50% 50% 100% 100% 100% 50% 50% 50% 100% 100% 100% 33% 33% 33% Source: Compensation Board. 17
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 18 and 19: ROLES OF THE STATE AND LOCAL GOVERN
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 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
Page 84 and 85:
Ou,a~ll;;; and for Local J:l,;xBI.m
Page 86 and 87:
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
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It is a common misconception that t
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The development of state/local perc
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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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