HD65 - Review of the Methodology for Distributing State Aid to Localities with Police Departments ("599" Funds) [REPRINT]


Executive Summary:
[11-28-06 -- Report was reprinted due to pages being omitted.]

Introduction:

In accordance with §§9.1-165 through 172 of the Code of Virginia, the Department of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS) distributes state aid to localities with police departments. The fund is named after House Bill 599, the legislation that created the program in 1979. The funds are distributed to 175 cities, counties and towns. The amounts allocated to the individual localities are determined by a distribution formula prescribed in the Code.

Language in the 2006 Appropriations Act (Item 393, Paragraph E) directs the Secretaries of Finance and Public Safety to “…review the current methodology…to determine whether or not the enabling legislation and funding formula warrant modification.”

The General Assembly included that language in response to a request from the Governor when it became evident that, by the current distribution formula, FY 2007 funding for a substantial number of localities would be less than their FY 2006 amounts, even with a proposed $11.5 million increase in the total appropriation. The spreadsheet in Appendix 1 compares the FY 2006 amounts for all the eligible localities with their FY 2007 amounts as originally calculated. Localities shown in bold are those whose FY 2007 allocations would be lower than FY 2006 according to the current funding formula.

The Governor also proposed increasing the appropriation by $3.4 million, in order to keep those localities that would have seen a reduction in FY 2007 at their FY 2006 level. The General Assembly concurred in that recommendation as well. Appendix 1 also shows the amount of distribution that each locality actually will receive for FY 2007. With this additional funding, the total FY 2007 “599” appropriation is $206,339,291.

To conduct their review of the current methodology and funding formula, the Secretaries of Public Safety and Finance convened a working group chaired by Deputy Secretary of Public Safety Clyde Cristman and consisting of Deputy Secretary of Finance Manju Ganeriwala and staff from the Department of Criminal Justice Services and the Department of Planning and Budget. Representatives of the Virginia Municipal League, the Virginia Association of Counties, Virginia’s First Cities Coalition and staff from the Senate Finance and House Appropriations Committees participated in working group meetings and provided feedback on proposed options.