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

The reimbursement cycle begins when the constitutional officer authorizes an
expenditure consistent with the Compensation Board approved budget. Constitutional
office personnel and non-personnel expenses are initially paid by the local
government when each expenditure is made. The payment can be in the form of the
payroll for the staff of the constitutional officer, or it might be a payment to a private
vendor.
Then, each month the local governments request reimbursement for the
expenditures made on behalf of the officers. The last week of each month, the
Compensation Board sends a reimbursement form to each constitutional office, listing
all employees and the portion oftheir salaries to be reimbursed. Included on the form
are other approved categories of expenditure allowed for reimbursement (such as
postage, stationery, and equipment). The local office indicates the amount ofexpenditure
requested for reimbursement in each category and returns the form to the Board
along with any vendor receipts. The Board asks that the forms and receipts be
returned by the tenth day of the following month and be approved by both the
constitutional officer and the local government administrator.
Upon receipt ofthe approved form, Board staffreview the requested reimbursable
items using the guidelines set out in the Code ofVirginia to determine eligibility.
The information collected on the request forms are then entered into an automated
payroll and expense system maintained by the Department ofInformation Technology
(DIT) which generates invoices for payment and reconciles expenditures with budgeted
funds. The invoices are generated at DIT and passed on to the Board for final
review. The Board sends the invoices to the Department of Accounts (DOA) for
payment to the local government.
Sheriffs' mileage reimbursements vary from this process somewhat. The
mileage reimbursement requests are submitted separately from the normal monthly
reimbursement form. Reimbursements to the localities for mileage are made on a
quarterly basis.
Administration of the reimbursement process is the bulk of the work performed
by the staff of the Compensation Board. Seven of the ten employees of the
Board are involved in approval ofreimbursement requests.
Fees and Commissions. Certain fees and commissions collected by constitutional
officers are redistributed to the local treasury and to the State treasury, as
required by the Code of Virginia. Other fees, such as those collected by the local
treasurers and commissioners ofrevenue, are retained by the local governments.
All fees collected by the sheriffs are credited one-third to the general fund of
the local government and two-thirds to the Commonwealth (Code ofVirginia, §14.1­
69). Fees collected by Commonwealth attorneys are divided equally between the State
and the local government (Code ofVirginia, §14.1-54). Clerks of the court retain all
fees and commissions to fund their operations (Code ofVirginia, §14.1-143.2D). But if
a clerk's office does not collect fees sufficient to cover the approved operating costs of
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