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° OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY ;. '
17 19 7"4 J G;,OJ
OFFICE OF REVENUE SHARING April 7, 1978
2401 E STREET,N.W.
COLUMBIA PLAZA HIGHRISE
WASHINGTON.D.C. 20226 REF: 5521-A
Dear Revenue Sharing Recipient:
Today we made the second of four general revenue sharing payments
for Entitlement Period Nine (EP9) to more than 37,000 eligible govern-
ments including your government. The Ninth Period began on October 1 ,
1977 and ends on September 30, 1978. General revenue sharing entitle-
ments are always paid within five working days after the end of the
calendar quarter to which they apply.
Your payment has been made directly to a designated bank or other
financial institution if you have authorized a direct deposit of your
revenue haring payments. Otherwise, your government's payment is in
form of a check mailed separately from this letter.
\"Y
Data Improvement Program
1 The preliminary data relating to population, adjusted taxes and 19er
• r4ca ' a income as furnished to us by the Bureau of the Census for use. in
1-4En lement Period Ten (EP10) (October 1 , 1978 - September 30, 1979)
, awe mailed also to you today. You are encouraged to review these data
Can all any apparent discrepancies to our attention, with supporting
do entation, by May 16, 1978 to insure that corrected data can be used
l' ';_ "i he actual allocation of revenue sharing funds for EP10.
An estimated allocation for EP10 based on these preliminary data is
also included for your information and possible use in preparing future
budgets. Please do not challenge your government' s data if the estimated
allocation for EP10 differs from the amount you were allocated for EP9.
It is often the case that one government's allocation is affected by the
data for other governments in a given area.
It is possible that the actual allocation of EP10 general revenue
sharing funds to your government will vary from the estimate given you
this month. You will be informed of the final allocation at the time
you receive your Statement of Assurances form for EP10. The Revenue
Sharing Act as amended provides that a recipient government may appeal
its data within one year after the end of an entitlement period.
780854
REF: 5521-A 2
No Affiliation with Private Firms
Occasionally, recipient government officials appear to confuse this
Office with one or more private profit-making organizations to which
they subscribe. This Office is a unit of the United States Treasury
Department and is not affiliated in any way with any private organization.
Every recipient government chief executive should understand that
this Office is available to help with any problem that you may have,
without charge of any kind. If you ever are dissatisfied with the
service provided by this Office, please let me know. Any mail marked
for my personal attention will be delivered to me.
Population and other Revenue Sharing Data
We are cooperating with the Bureau of the Census in its efforts to
verify its population data for recipient governments. This has no
connection with our Data Improvement Program, however. We urge your
cooperation in this program also.
For most governments population is the least influential of the
three data elements in the formula. Although some local government
officials may believe their government will receive more revenue shaking
funds if the population figure of their government is increased, this is
rarely the case. Higher adjusted tax data and lower per capita income
figures relative to other similar governments ' data within a county area
(not just compared with your own government's past data) are more likely
to favorably influence the allocation formula.
If you would like to know more about the revenue sharing formula,
please request our Fact Sheet on this subject.
Public Participation Reminders
Public notice of the revenue sharing proposed use hearing and
budget hearing must be published in a newspaper of general circulation
which serves your community. A newspaper announcement must also be used
to provide notice of the availability of the summary of the enacted
budget and use report for public inspection. At a minimum, your government
should place a paid advertisement in the newspaper to satisfy this
requirement. Such notice need not take the form of a legal advertisement,
however. Newspaper news stories and the use of other news media to
encourage the public to attend the hearings are commendable additional
steps that may be taken.
Some governments have sought our permission to use other means of
giving notice because they are preferable in the opinion of the govern-
ment officials. Unfortunately, we cannot waive the statutory requirements
3 REF: 5521-A
on that basis. The law provides that newspaper publication may be
waived in favor of another alternative method only if the use of a
newspaper is impractical , infeasible, or the cost is excessive. Publication
costs must exceed 15 percent of the amount of revenue sharing funds in
the proposed budget to be considered excessive.
The term impractical means that newspaper publication may not be
useful . This may be the case if, for example, you are served only by
a large metropolitan paper published some distance away and there are
few subscribers in your community. The term infeasible means that it
is not possible to publish a notice in a local newspaper. This may be
the case if there is no newspaper circulating at all in your community.
In either case, a newspaper does not need to be published within your
government's boundaries to qualify as a newspaper of general circulation
in your community.
To grant a waiver of the newspaper publication requirement, the
Office of Revenue Sharing must receive a written request signed by the
chief executive officer. The request must indicate the conditions which
make newspaper publication impractical or infeasible. It must also
include a brief description of the alternative publication method to be
used in place of a notice in the newspaper. If a waiver request is
based on cost, it must document that the cost of newspaper publication
will exceed 15 percent of the amount of revenue sharing funds proposed
for appropriation. The documentation may take the form of a written
estimate that the cost of publishing the notices will total a specific
amount.
Actual Use Report = Census Survey
Some governments are still requesting copies of the old "Actual Use
Report" form. The "Actual Use Report" has been replaced by the Census
Bureau's "Survey of Federal General Revenue Sharing and Antirecession
Fiscal Assistance Expenditures" form. This yellow form has been sent to
all recipient governments by the Census Bureau. The form combines the
proposed and actual expenditures of revenue sharing funds and economic
impact of antirecession fiscal assistance funds. Section 51 .12(c) of
the revenue sharing regulations requires that a notice of the availability
of the form for public inspection be published in a newspaper of general
circulation within your community.
If you have any questions regarding how to complete this form or if
you need an additional form, please call the Census Bureau collect at
(301 ) 763-2890 for assistance.
We recently sent a delinquent notice to governments whose forms had
not been received by mid-March. If you did not prepare this form
yourself, you may wish to make sure that another person in your government
has submitted the form to the Census Bureau.
REF: 5521-A 4
Spaced Out
Our office here in Washington is undergoing physical renovations to
enable our small staff to better utilize the space we occupy. This has
caused some disruption of telephone service for which I apologize. If
you are unable to contact us by using another number, please try our
general information number which is (202) 634-5200. If that number is
busy, please try again later.
Also, for reasons relating to our space renovations , we are not
able to accommodate visitors easily. We hope that by mid-summer any
disruptions will be a thing of the past.
Women and Minorities in ORS
Occasionally I am asked if the Office of Revenue Sharing heeds its
own advice and employs qualified minorities and women throughout its
organization. As of the end of February 1978 the Revenue Sharing
Program staff totaled 158. Of these persons, 43% are minorities and 55%
are women. Significant numbers of females and minorities are employed
throughout our organization. This was accomplished while observing the
selection requirements of the Federal civil service system.
Sincerely,
Atacaded-ret-t °441-4.1-41-47
Bernadine Denning
Director
Office of Revenue Sharing
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