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

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local governments'
relative abilities to pay, with the poorlocalities
paying proportionately
less the costs for which they are
responsible, and
development of a greater level of accountability
by allocating State funds
based on specific staffing standards,
focusing operational decisions
about the use of funds at the local
level.
Roles of State and Local
Governments in Funding for
Constitutional Officers
constitutional officers are an important
of Virginia's intergovernmental
structure. In the 1988-90 biennium, State
aid to constitutional officers totaled almost
one half billion dollars. In recent
years, changes in the responsibilities of the
officers, coupled with growth in the State's
population, have resulted in dramatic growth
in the workload of the constitutional officers.
The complexity of the services provided
and rapid growth in the workload of
the offices have made the current funding
process incapable of providing appropriate
levels of resources to the offices. Consequently,
the State's mechanism for budgeting,
administering, and overseeing State
aid for constitutional officers needs to be
redefined to better align resources with
responsibilities in the process of addressing
State and local service priorities.
The research for this report was
guided by specific goals to be achieved by
a revised funding system. Three goals
provided the framework for developing a
comprehensive funding system for the
COllstiitutional officers: service equity, tax
accountability. These goals ref'!
In'Ant constitutional framework
relcl.tionsrlips between the State
and local governments and the actual relationships
which constitutional officers have
with the local governments.
Service Equity
The first goal used to develop a more
systematic funding system was service
equity. Service equity means that all citizens
should have equal access to certain
services provided by constitutional officers.
To achieve this goal, funding must be available
to meet the recognized workload in all
localities, including the special workload
requirements of certain localities.
In order to determine the appropriate
level of State funding for the constitutional
officers, it was first necessary to
calculate the total costs which should be
recognized by the State. Because the
mandate for this study requested that the
analysis focus on the costs of implementing
staffing standards for the offices, the
review of State-recognized costs included
only an analysis of staffing costs.
Estimating State-recognized staffing
costs for constitutional officers involved four
major steps. The first step was to identify
the total number of full-time equivalent
positions which should be recognized for
funding. The statewide staffing standards
developed by JLARC staff were used as
the basis for staffing. Applying these standards,
State recognized staffing for the
constitutional officers would be 1,917 positions
higher than currently recognized by
the Compensation Board. The second step
was to develop an appropriate salary which
could be applied for the positions in each
constitutional office. JLARC staff developed
statewide average salaries for the
staff of the contitutional offices. In the third
step, the fringe benefit costs for the positions
were estimated. Finally, the results of
the first three steps were used calculate
total staffing costs.
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