Multiple Agencies
An Audit Report on Funds Collected as Court Costs
May 2002
Report Number 02-049
Overall Conclusion
Grantees, contractors, and award recipients that received court costs and fees from the Governor's Office, the Office of the Attorney General, and the Children's Trust Fund of Texas Council in fiscal year 2001 may not have always spent funds for the intended purposes. For example, some of the expenditures that grantees, contractors, and award recipients made were not supported by documentation, such as bills and receipts. Also, some grantees and contractors received funds not allowed by statute or for services not rendered. Finally, some agencies did not ensure that grantees, contractors, or the agency itself complied with statute or contract requirements.
The Department of Public Safety spent court costs and fees it received in fiscal
year 2001 in accordance with the established purposes.
Additionally, we determined that six court costs and fees do not have a specific
purpose directing expenditure of the funds. In fiscal year 2001,
$25 million was collected through revenue codes funded in part by court costs
and fees and deposited into the General Revenue Fund.
In fiscal year 2001, using money from prior years and other sources of revenue,
agencies spent $360 million from 15 funds that receive revenue from court costs
and fees. Of that amount, $149 million went to grants awarded through a variety
of programs identified in statute. Although the combined fund balance for these
15 funds consistently increased from fiscal year 1997 through fiscal year 2000,
it decreased by $30 million in fiscal year 2001. The combined available fund
balance for these 15 funds was nearly $360 million at the end of fiscal year
2001
Key Facts and Findings
Grantees, contractors, and award recipients that received court costs and fees
from the Governor's Office, the Office of the Attorney General, and the Children's
Trust Fund of Texas Council in fiscal year 2001 may not have always spent funds
for the intended purposes.
In fiscal year 2001, the Governor's Office, the Office of the Attorney General,
and the Children's Trust Fund of Texas Council expended $191 million from funds
for which a part of the revenue source was court costs and fees. We determined
that these agencies used court costs and fees to fund programs that fulfilled
established purposes. However, they either did not have processes for ensuring
that the grantees, contractors, or award recipients spent the funds as intended,
or they did not follow their internal processes. For the following reasons,
we questioned as much as $4.6 million in expenditures made by these three agencies'
grantees, contractors, and award recipients:
- Some of the expenditures that grantees, contractors, and award recipients made were not supported by documentation, such as bills and receipts.
- Some grantees and contractors received funds not allowed by statute or for services not rendered.
- Some agencies did not ensure that grantees, contractors, or the agency itself
complied with statute or contract requirements.
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