State Profits from CS

"Werebat" wrote in message
...


Bob Whiteside wrote:
"Werebat" wrote in message
...


Bob Whiteside wrote:

"Werebat" wrote in message
...


Bob Whiteside wrote:


"Werebat" wrote in message
.. .



Anyone know how I can learn how much money my state rakes in from CS
every year?

- Ron ^*^


Go into the Federal OCSE web site at:

http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cse/index.html

Under "publications" there is a section called "reports."

IIRC there are a couple of places where they publish what you are

looking


for. One is on the state "scorecard" and the other is a listing of
all

the


states and how much they received from the feds.

The OCSE "report" was a dead link that went nowhere. Interesting.


I just tried the link and it works for me. If you can't figure out

which

report to read use the search option to get matches.

The answer to your question is - RI gets about $3.6 million per year

from

the feds to run their CS program.

Hmm... OK. Is this net profit, or gross before spending on the
program? I'm sorry to be asking you this, but when I click the links
for OCSE they literally do nothing.


Neither. RI collected $55.4 million CS in FY 2005. They had
expenditures
of $9.2 million. That gave RI a cost effectiveness of $6.45, i.e. $6.45
CS
collected for every $1 spent. That's above average of around $4.50.
The
$3.6 million incentive payment from the feds is revenue. (BTW - The
total
federal incentive budget was $446.0 million for FY 2005 so RI gets just
under 1% of the total incentive payout.)

What is not clear is how this revenue is used by the states. To my
knowledge there are no federal mandates on how this revenue is to be
used. I
believe the states have discretion in what they do with the money.
Tracing
revenue dollars through any state budget is impossible. It's like the
states run a giant money laundering operation.

OK, but if the state paid 9.2 million and only raked in 3.6 million,
that was a net loss to operate the program, right? If one accused the
state of engaging in certain practices in order to collect more money,
the state could still rub its halo and point out that it is spending
more than it earns by operating a CS program, right?

Still, "a penny saved is a penny earned", and the state DOES benefit by
maximizing awards and collections (even if said collections were never
exactly "awarded" in the first place).

This is where the waters get muddier. The states were required to set up
the CS system in compliance with federal guidelines in exchange for
continuing to receive federal dollars for ADF/TANF. The big bucks are on
the TANF relationship between the states and the feds. There is also a
component of federal dollars that pays the states 2/3 of the cost of setting
up and managing a CS program. The incentive pay outs are a bonus for
ongoing compliance with federal CS program guidelines.

Like I said, trying to trace the money and where is goes in a state budget
is a nightmare and impossible. The revenue comes from different sources and
programs. So far as I know it goes into a general fund and gets spread all
over the various state budget to cover expenditures.

"Werebat" wrote in

What is not clear is how this revenue is used by the states. To my
knowledge there are no federal mandates on how this revenue is to be
used.


State or Federal Funds all come from the same place, the tax payer!

"Bob Whiteside" wrote in

The revenue comes from different sources and programs.

There's only one resource any government gets its fund from, us!!!!!!!

Bob Whiteside wrote:
"Werebat" wrote in message
...


Bob Whiteside wrote:

"Werebat" wrote in message
...


Bob Whiteside wrote:


"Werebat" wrote in message
...



Bob Whiteside wrote:



"Werebat" wrote in message
.. .




Anyone know how I can learn how much money my state rakes in from CS
every year?

- Ron ^*^


Go into the Federal OCSE web site at:

http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cse/index.html

Under "publications" there is a section called "reports."

IIRC there are a couple of places where they publish what you are

looking



for. One is on the state "scorecard" and the other is a listing of

all

the



states and how much they received from the feds.

The OCSE "report" was a dead link that went nowhere. Interesting.


I just tried the link and it works for me. If you can't figure out

which


report to read use the search option to get matches.

The answer to your question is - RI gets about $3.6 million per year

from


the feds to run their CS program.

Hmm... OK. Is this net profit, or gross before spending on the
program? I'm sorry to be asking you this, but when I click the links
for OCSE they literally do nothing.


Neither. RI collected $55.4 million CS in FY 2005. They had

expenditures

of $9.2 million. That gave RI a cost effectiveness of $6.45, i.e. $6.45

CS

collected for every $1 spent. That's above average of around $4.50.

The

$3.6 million incentive payment from the feds is revenue. (BTW - The

total

federal incentive budget was $446.0 million for FY 2005 so RI gets just
under 1% of the total incentive payout.)

What is not clear is how this revenue is used by the states. To my
knowledge there are no federal mandates on how this revenue is to be

used. I

believe the states have discretion in what they do with the money.

Tracing

revenue dollars through any state budget is impossible. It's like the
states run a giant money laundering operation.

OK, but if the state paid 9.2 million and only raked in 3.6 million,
that was a net loss to operate the program, right? If one accused the
state of engaging in certain practices in order to collect more money,
the state could still rub its halo and point out that it is spending
more than it earns by operating a CS program, right?

Still, "a penny saved is a penny earned", and the state DOES benefit by
maximizing awards and collections (even if said collections were never
exactly "awarded" in the first place).


This is where the waters get muddier. The states were required to set up
the CS system in compliance with federal guidelines in exchange for
continuing to receive federal dollars for ADF/TANF. The big bucks are on
the TANF relationship between the states and the feds. There is also a
component of federal dollars that pays the states 2/3 of the cost of setting
up and managing a CS program. The incentive pay outs are a bonus for
ongoing compliance with federal CS program guidelines.

Like I said, trying to trace the money and where is goes in a state budget
is a nightmare and impossible. The revenue comes from different sources and
programs. So far as I know it goes into a general fund and gets spread all
over the various state budget to cover expenditures.

Do you really need to find out where it "goes"? Just look at how much
the state spends on its CS program, and look at how much comed into the
budget because of the CS program. It doesn't matter where it "goes".

Are you saying that the 3.6 million RI raked in is IN ADDITION TO the
Feds funding 2/3 of their CS program? Because if this is the case, we
can rightly say that RI is turning a "profit" from child support
(because 2/3 of 9.2 million plus 3.6 million is greater than 9.2
million). Not a phenomenal profit, but a profit.

- Ron ^*^

"Werebat" wrote in message
...


Bob Whiteside wrote:
"Werebat" wrote in message
...


Bob Whiteside wrote:

"Werebat" wrote in message
...


Bob Whiteside wrote:


"Werebat" wrote in message
...



Bob Whiteside wrote:



"Werebat" wrote in message
.. .




Anyone know how I can learn how much money my state rakes in from
CS
every year?

- Ron ^*^


Go into the Federal OCSE web site at:

http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cse/index.html

Under "publications" there is a section called "reports."

IIRC there are a couple of places where they publish what you are

looking



for. One is on the state "scorecard" and the other is a listing of

all

the



states and how much they received from the feds.

The OCSE "report" was a dead link that went nowhere. Interesting.


I just tried the link and it works for me. If you can't figure out

which


report to read use the search option to get matches.

The answer to your question is - RI gets about $3.6 million per year

from


the feds to run their CS program.

Hmm... OK. Is this net profit, or gross before spending on the
program? I'm sorry to be asking you this, but when I click the links
for OCSE they literally do nothing.


Neither. RI collected $55.4 million CS in FY 2005. They had

expenditures

of $9.2 million. That gave RI a cost effectiveness of $6.45, i.e.
$6.45

CS

collected for every $1 spent. That's above average of around $4.50.

The

$3.6 million incentive payment from the feds is revenue. (BTW - The

total

federal incentive budget was $446.0 million for FY 2005 so RI gets just
under 1% of the total incentive payout.)

What is not clear is how this revenue is used by the states. To my
knowledge there are no federal mandates on how this revenue is to be

used. I

believe the states have discretion in what they do with the money.

Tracing

revenue dollars through any state budget is impossible. It's like the
states run a giant money laundering operation.

OK, but if the state paid 9.2 million and only raked in 3.6 million,
that was a net loss to operate the program, right? If one accused the
state of engaging in certain practices in order to collect more money,
the state could still rub its halo and point out that it is spending
more than it earns by operating a CS program, right?

Still, "a penny saved is a penny earned", and the state DOES benefit by
maximizing awards and collections (even if said collections were never
exactly "awarded" in the first place).


This is where the waters get muddier. The states were required to set
up
the CS system in compliance with federal guidelines in exchange for
continuing to receive federal dollars for ADF/TANF. The big bucks are
on
the TANF relationship between the states and the feds. There is also a
component of federal dollars that pays the states 2/3 of the cost of
setting
up and managing a CS program. The incentive pay outs are a bonus for
ongoing compliance with federal CS program guidelines.

Like I said, trying to trace the money and where is goes in a state
budget
is a nightmare and impossible. The revenue comes from different sources
and
programs. So far as I know it goes into a general fund and gets spread
all
over the various state budget to cover expenditures.

Do you really need to find out where it "goes"? Just look at how much
the state spends on its CS program, and look at how much comed into the
budget because of the CS program. It doesn't matter where it "goes".

Are you saying that the 3.6 million RI raked in is IN ADDITION TO the
Feds funding 2/3 of their CS program? Because if this is the case, we
can rightly say that RI is turning a "profit" from child support
(because 2/3 of 9.2 million plus 3.6 million is greater than 9.2
million). Not a phenomenal profit, but a profit.

What I believe happens with all government budgeting is something I call
"compartmentalizing the budget." They segregate revenue and expenses and
claim they are always short of money in a critical area.

School budgeting is a good example. In my state a lot of school funding
comes from the state general fund. They claim they have enough money to run
the prisons, state police, highways, etc. but they don't have enough money
to fully fund the schools. The school funding gets "compartmentalized" to
be an emotional issue since it affects children. If school funding is such
an important issue, the question becomes "Why don't they fund the schools
first instead of last?" Likewise at the local level they claim they have
enough money in the school budget for expansion, building maintenance,
paying for administration, employee benefits, etc but they don't have enough
money for the classrooms which affects the children.

My point regarding the CS program is there are multiple revenue sources,
i.e. federal funding of the state CS program, federal incentive payments,
and federal TANF funding. The way they do the accounting it looks like
they have enough to fund TANF but they run short of money to fully fund the
CS program. There really is never any "profit" because the states allocate
every dollar they collect. I am always amazed that when some new pet
project comes along the government can find a few billion dollars in some
slush funds to do the project.

The feds understand the way governments play games with the budgets. That
is why they set the federal government up at the head of the line to receive
reimbursements from CS collections. This is another reason why states are
aggressive in collecting CS. Sine the feds get the first dollars collected,
the states share of TANF reimbursements is the last dollars collected.