Tuesday, December 21, 2010
SOUTH CAROLINA DSS FINES MOUNT
Will Folks writes in "DSS Fines Mount," “Such is the game of unfunded federal mandates,” thereby implying that South Carolina is being victimized by the federal government’s decision to fine the state for its failure to comply with an unfunded mandate. In our view, that implication is absurd.
The federal mandate to implement a computerized child support tracking and collection system is not exactly unfunded. DSS records show that South Carolina has received $79,901,279 to date for implementation of the system. Moreover, had the system been implemented and the child support collections rate increased, South Carolina would have been eligible for incentive bonuses. This is in addition to the approximately $80,000,000 in yearly federal Title IV-D (child support enforcement) and Title IV-A Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) funding that South Carolina receives and which is currently at risk. (Click here for an explanation of how much South Carolina receives in Title IV-D and TANF funding on an annual basis and why that funding is at risk.)
Rather than complaining about the big bad federal government, maybe the South Carolina General Assembly should make some bona fide attempts to actually understand federal law and to enact mandated legislation. And, rather than “rearranging deckchairs on the Titanic,” maybe Governor Nikki Haley should appoint a DSS Director who is not only committed to reform, but who actually understands how to implement mandated reform. And maybe that person should give some serious thought on how to avoid losing $80,000,000 a year in federal funding.
Incidentally, our disagreement with Mr. Folks should in one way be construed as a personal attack against him. We sometimes link to his site and often read the postings to his site. We even sometimes agree with his positions. For example, we agree that DSS is severely mismanaged. We just don't agree that the mandates contained in the 1996 Welfare Reform Act are either unreasonable or unfunded. Essentially, the federal government said to South Carolina, "We are tired of sending so much AFDC money to you each month, so we are going to provide you with a way to make South Carolina fathers pay to support their own children. Additionally, we will fund child support collection costs as well as most of the costs of a computerized tracking and collection system. The catch is that you have to both implement the computerized program and pay for part of the costs. And if you don't implement the program we will start taking our money back and may even stop sending money to you."
We have no idea why these systems cost so much money. Nor do we have any idea of how much they cost to run on an annual basis, though other states can probably provide that information. We do know, however, that the federal government has given South Carolina about $80 Million to build the system and that the federal government sends South Carolina about $40 Million each year to pay for collection of child support; this is on top of the unmonitored "fines" the various family courts access against "deadbeat dads" for child support collection as well as the interest generated on both child support payments and the collected, but undistributed, child support payments paid through the Family Court. We also know that South Carolina's arrearages are increasing, whereas other states who have instituted federally-mandated programs have seen an increase in collections and a decrease in arrearages.
The federal mandate to implement a computerized child support tracking and collection system is not exactly unfunded. DSS records show that South Carolina has received $79,901,279 to date for implementation of the system. Moreover, had the system been implemented and the child support collections rate increased, South Carolina would have been eligible for incentive bonuses. This is in addition to the approximately $80,000,000 in yearly federal Title IV-D (child support enforcement) and Title IV-A Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) funding that South Carolina receives and which is currently at risk. (Click here for an explanation of how much South Carolina receives in Title IV-D and TANF funding on an annual basis and why that funding is at risk.)
Rather than complaining about the big bad federal government, maybe the South Carolina General Assembly should make some bona fide attempts to actually understand federal law and to enact mandated legislation. And, rather than “rearranging deckchairs on the Titanic,” maybe Governor Nikki Haley should appoint a DSS Director who is not only committed to reform, but who actually understands how to implement mandated reform. And maybe that person should give some serious thought on how to avoid losing $80,000,000 a year in federal funding.
Incidentally, our disagreement with Mr. Folks should in one way be construed as a personal attack against him. We sometimes link to his site and often read the postings to his site. We even sometimes agree with his positions. For example, we agree that DSS is severely mismanaged. We just don't agree that the mandates contained in the 1996 Welfare Reform Act are either unreasonable or unfunded. Essentially, the federal government said to South Carolina, "We are tired of sending so much AFDC money to you each month, so we are going to provide you with a way to make South Carolina fathers pay to support their own children. Additionally, we will fund child support collection costs as well as most of the costs of a computerized tracking and collection system. The catch is that you have to both implement the computerized program and pay for part of the costs. And if you don't implement the program we will start taking our money back and may even stop sending money to you."
We have no idea why these systems cost so much money. Nor do we have any idea of how much they cost to run on an annual basis, though other states can probably provide that information. We do know, however, that the federal government has given South Carolina about $80 Million to build the system and that the federal government sends South Carolina about $40 Million each year to pay for collection of child support; this is on top of the unmonitored "fines" the various family courts access against "deadbeat dads" for child support collection as well as the interest generated on both child support payments and the collected, but undistributed, child support payments paid through the Family Court. We also know that South Carolina's arrearages are increasing, whereas other states who have instituted federally-mandated programs have seen an increase in collections and a decrease in arrearages.
Labels: Child Support Collection, Computerized Child Support System, Federal Fines, Institutional Mismanagement, Problems at DSS, Welfare Reform
