GOAL #4 Sound Financial Planning
Goal: To ensure that sufficient funds exist for the compensation program to pay all eligible
applicants to the full extent of their compensable costs.
Objectives
2. To maximize funding for the program, through whatever sources are available.
3. To recover as much of the program's payouts as possible from offenders and other responsible parties, through
restitution, subrogation, and collateral resources.
4. To administer state and federal funds in accordance with all state and federal requirements and sound accounting principles.
STRATEGIES
Objective 1: To gain an accurate picture of the program's fiscal condition, and to develop strategies to operate
within fiscal constraints.
Basic Strategies
o Applications received and paid
o Compensable expenses paid, by cost categories
o Funds received, by source
o Funds available currently
o All statistics necessary for VOCA Performance Reports
o Administrative expenditures
b. Forecast revenues and expenditures annually by source and cost
categories.
c. Monitor budget monthly for variances.
d. Develop strategies to boost revenue (see Objective #2) or control costs to keep program within budget. Only if necessary, consider setting
limits and maximums on specific benefit categories, such as mental
health.
e. Consider use of VOCA 5% administrative funds to enhance
program operations.
Advanced Strategies
b. Assign professional staff to perform quality review of medical
bills to find duplicate charges, overcharges, and unrelated charges.
c. Contract with private agency to perform quality review of
medical bills to find duplicate charges, overcharges, and unrelated
charges.
Basic Strategies
o Set criminal fees at a level that will ensure sufficient funding; or
o Appropriate the funds needed to meet the program's fiscal
needs.
b. Encourage prosecutors, judges, court clerks, probation and
parole officers, corrections officials, and others responsible for
seeking, ordering, and collecting criminal fees and restitution to
fulfill those responsibilities.
Advanced Strategies
b. Set up a committee consisting of court officials, prosecutors,
corrections and probation officials to discuss problems and
solutions in collections.
c. Publish a regular newsletter for, or maintain regular
correspondence with, officials responsible for ordering and
collecting offender revenue.
d. Meet with U.S. Attorney in state to encourage collection of federal criminal debt that finances the VOCA Crime Victims Fund.
Objective 3: To recover as much of the program's payouts as possible from offenders and other responsible parties,
through restitution, subrogation, and collateral resources.
Basic Strategies
b. Include in the notice of payment to victims that they are under
a legal obligation to repay the program from sums received from
offenders or other responsible parties.
c. Clarify that the duties of claims specialists include being attentive
to potential revenue recovery and reimbursement sources.
d. Encourage prosecutors, judges, court clerks, probation and
parole officers, corrections officials, and others responsible for
seeking, ordering, and collecting criminal fees and restitution to
fulfill those responsibilities.
e. Establish a system to track payments of restitution to the
program.
Advanced Strategies
b. Create incentives for court officials to do a better job in
collecting restitution.
c. Develop procedures to request restitution orders in individual
cases, and to track and monitor sentences and collections.
d. Check with court clerks to determine if civil suits have been filed by applicants against offenders. If so, send notices to the applicants
and/or their attorneys reminding them of subrogation obligations.
e. Send notices to individual offenders whose victims have been
compensated and who have been ordered to pay restitution,
requesting payment directly to the compensation program.
f. Institute actions, such as garnishment of wages, to obtain
payment from offenders.
g. Provide training to prosecutors, judges, court clerks, probation
and parole officials, and corrections personnel on the importance
of restitution and the procedures to follow in getting it from
offenders.
h. Dedicate staff to, or hire a new specialist for, the collection
activity described in c. through g. above.
i. Encourage legislation to strengthen the restitution laws in the
state, including naming the compensation program as a party to
whom the court can order that restitution be paid.
j. Encourage victims in appropriate cases to file civil actions against
offenders and responsible third parties, and provide referrals to
attorneys or the bar association.
k. Implement a system whereby the program can initiate civil action
against responsible offenders and third parties to recover amounts
paid by the program, if the victim does not file such an action.
l. Seek legislation that prohibits award of compensation until
applicant has satisfied all criminal penalties, such as fines and
restitution, that may be owed by the applicant from prior offenses
committed by the applicant. Implement procedures to identify
criminal fines and penalties owed by applicants.
Objective 4: To administer state and federal funds in accordance with all state and federal requirements and sound
accounting principles.
Basic Strategies
b. Maintain documentation that is accessible and verifiable as to
program payments to victims and for administrative expenditures.
c. Perform annual audit (or comply with whatever state and federal requirements and procedures exist for audits).