Arkansas Administrative Code
Agency 006 - Department of Finance and Administration
Division 09 - Office of Accounting
Rule 006.09.05-001 - Rule 2005-3 : Implementation of Accountability Provisions for Disbursements from the General Improvement Fund by the Department of Finance and Administration Disbursing Officer
Universal Citation: AR Admin Rules 006.09.05-001
Current through Register Vol. 49, No. 9, September, 2024
Pursuant to the authority vested in the Director of the Department of Finance and Administration, acting as Chief Fiscal Officer of the State, by Ark. Code Ann. §§ 19-1-201, 19-1-207, 19-4-301, and 19-4-801, the Director of the Department of Finance and Administration, with the approval of the Governor, does hereby promulgate the following Rule for the enforcement and administration of disbursements from the General Improvement Fund by the DFA Disbursing Officer.
1. Purpose: The purpose of this Rule is to:
(A) Simplify and clarify the administration
of the disbursements from the General Improvement Fund;
(B) Provide for increased public confidence
in the disbursement of funds used for projects financed from the General
Improvement Fund;
(C) Ensure the
fair and equitable treatment of all fund recipients; and
(D) Provide safeguards for the maintenance
and administration of the disbursement process.
2. Definitions: For purposes of this Rule, unless otherwise required by the context, the following definitions apply:
(A) "Appropriation" shall mean a legislative
act authorizing the expenditure of a designated amount of public funds for a
specific purpose.
(B) "Biennium"
shall mean a two-year period beginning the first of July immediately following
the conclusion of the regularly scheduled Arkansas legislative
session.
(C) "Compliance Audit"
shall mean an audit conducted to determine whether the use of funds was in
compliance with the appropriated purposes of the General Assembly.
(D) "Executive discretionary division
projects" shall consist of the projects approved for funding from the General
Improvement Fund for which the Governor shall authorize release of monies to
fund such projects, subject to availability of funds in the State
Treasury.
(E) "Fund recipient"
shall mean any entity, organization, institution, city or municipality,
department, or agency approved by the General Assembly to receive appropriated
funds through the General Improvement Fund.
(F) "General Improvement Fund" shall consist
of monies set aside by the General Assembly to be used for financing
improvement projects.
(G)
"Legislative division projects" shall consist of the projects approved for
funding from the General Improvement Fund other than the projects listed as
executive discretionary division projects.
(H) "Maintenance" shall mean to support,
preserve, sustain, and keep in a given existing condition of efficiency or
state of repair.
(I) "Matching
funds" shall mean the monies equal to or exceeding appropriated funds through
sources outside of the appropriations creating the original funds, such as
through federal matching funds and private donations.
(J) "Method of finance" shall mean a written
summary statement setting forth a general description of a proposed project,
its estimated overall costs, its estimated commencement and completion dates,
and the method proposed to finance its costs.
(K) "DFA Disbursing Officer" shall mean the
Director of the Department of Finance and Administration.
3. Available Funds:
(A) The Treasurer
of State shall first make allocations to the executive discretionary division
projects based on the percentage outlined in each biennium's General
Improvement Fund Distribution Act and the remainders of the total available
funds to the legislative division projects until all legislative division
projects have been fully funded.
(B) Funds will be distributed to the
legislative division projects in proportion that each project's allocation
bears to the total of the allocations of all projects enumerated in the
legislative division projects. Although funding levels have been
established, there are no guarantees that funds will become available and be
released in amounts sufficient to reach the 100 percent level of funding.
Therefore, fund recipients should judiciously plan
accordingly.
(C) Funds made
available to the executive discretionary division projects may be used for any
project or portion thereof enumerated within the executive discretionary
division projects, but not to exceed the amount set out for the
project.
(D) The Chief Fiscal
Officer of the State shall notify the Legislative Council of the Governor's
released funds for projects at the time that the Department of Finance and
Administration is notified.
4. Letter of Instruction:
(A) Each fund
recipient shall provide their address of record, point of contact information,
and telephone number to the DFA Disbursing Officer by August 1 of the first
year in each biennium. The address of record shall be the business address of
the fund recipient.
(B) By August 1
of the first year in each biennium, the DFA Disbursing Officer shall issue a
letter of instruction to all designated fund recipients. The letter shall
contain information regarding the disbursement process, required supporting
documentation, and blank forms to be completed by each fund recipient and
returned to the DFA Disbursing Officer by September 1 of the first year in each
biennium.
5. Funding Process:
(A) The DFA Disbursing Officer shall mail
warrants to fund recipients to the addresses of record within 20 working days
after the Office of Accounting of the Department of Finance and Administration
receives distribution from the Treasurer of State. The Treasurer of State makes
distributions to the Department of Finance and Administration as funds become
available. Accordingly, a fund recipient may receive a disbursement in
installments rather than a single warrant. Distribution of funds will be
delayed if the fund recipient fails to provide the required Certification for
Use of Funds form (DFA-SP-1) or provides an incomplete Certification for Use of
Funds form (DFA-SP-1) as required in Section 7(A) of this Rule.
(B) The DFA Disbursing Officer shall request
a list of Legislators who wish to deliver warrants related to the General
Improvement Fund appropriations that they sponsored or co-sponsored from the
House and Senate staff no later than August 1 of the first year of each
biennium. The House and Senate staff shall provide such a list to the DFA
Disbursing Officer no later than September 1 of the first year of each
biennium. In the event that a Legislator sponsoring or co-sponsoring a General
Improvement Fund appropriation wishes to deliver the first warrant of the
biennium to the fund recipient, the Legislator must sign for the warrant at the
office of the DFA Disbursing Officer. All future warrants issued in the
biennium will be mailed directly to the recipients.
(C) In the event that an incomplete
Certification for Use of Funds form (DFA-SP-1) is received, the DFA Disbursing
Officer shall notify the fund recipient by letter to the recipient's address of
record within 10 working days of receipt of the form. The initial distribution
to the fund recipient may be delayed up to 60 days after the receipt of a
complete Certification for Use of Funds form (DFA-SP-1).
6. Disbursement Controls:
(A) Monies may
not be disbursed under this Rule in excess of the State Treasury funds actually
available and provided by law.
(B)
A fund recipient shall have the authority to accept and use grants and
donations, including federal funds, and its unobligated cash income or funds to
compensate for any deficiency in appropriated state funds for any approved
project.
(C) The DFA Disbursing
Officer shall strictly comply with all applicable provisions of the State
Purchasing Law, the General Accounting and Budgetary Procedures Law, the
Revenue Stabilization Law, and any other applicable fiscal control laws of this
State, including rules promulgated by the Department of Finance and
Administration, as authorized by law, in disbursing any funds from the General
Improvement Fund unless specifically provided otherwise by law.
7. Use of Funds Notification Process:
(A)
The initial application and certification by designated fund recipient
establishing the intended purpose and specific use of the funds shall be
delivered to the DFA Disbursing Officer, via the Certification for Use of Funds
form (DFA-SP-1) by September 1 of the first year in each biennium.
(B) The fund recipient shall provide updated
notification to the DFA Disbursing Officer any time the specific use of the
funds as disclosed on the initial Certification for Use of Funds form
(DFA-SP-1) is changed. The new notification shall also be made on the
Certification for Use of Funds form (DFA-SP-1).
(C) An Expenditure Report form (DFA-SP-2)
shall be completed by the fund recipient as of December 31 of the first year in
each biennium and sent to the DFA Disbursing Officer within 10 working days
thereafter. An Expenditure Report form (DFA-SP-2) shall then be prepared at the
end of every calendar year until the project is completed or the final use of
the appropriated funds.
(D)
Notification by fund recipient as to the actual purpose and use of the funds
shall be delivered to the DFA Disbursing Officer, via the Expenditure Report
form (DFA-SP-2), within 30 days after completion of the project or final use of
the funds.
(E) The failure of an
applicant to comply with the certification process as set forth in this section
may cause delays in receiving funding.
8. Matching Funds: Any matching funds as may be provided by law shall be certified to the Chief Fiscal Officer of the State prior to any disbursement from the General Improvement Fund and the commencement of the project.
9. Criteria and Preconditions: Expenditure of the funds authorized by appropriation from the General Improvement Find shall be made only upon:
(A) Documentation to
the Chief Fiscal Officer of the State that all criteria or preconditions
established in the appropriation act have been met; and
(B) A method of finance has been filed with
the Office of Accounting of the Department of Finance and Administration, if
required.
10. Adequate Records Maintenance: For audit purposes, fund recipients shall store and maintain on-site, for three years after final disbursement of funds, records of the following:
(A) All receipts and invoices;
(B) All applicable statutes and
rules;
(C) All documents and forms
required by this Rule;
(D) All
correspondence pertaining to funds; and
(E) All procurement contracts.
11. Compliance Audit: any recipient of appropriated funds from the General Improvement Fund:
(A) May be required to file
a compliance audit; and
(B) Is also
subject to an audit by the Division of Legislative Audit in order to determine
that the use of the funds was in compliance with the intent and appropriated
purposes of the General Assembly.
12. Non-compliance with this Rule: If it is found through a review of fund-recipient reports, a compliance audit, or through any other means that a recipient of funds from the General Improvement Fund has expended funds for any purpose other than that approved by law or this Rule, the Chief Fiscal Officer of the State may take any or all of the following actions:
(A) Withhold current funds to said recipient
pending correction of the unapproved use of funds;
(B) Require reimbursement of misused funds as
outlined in Section 13 of this Rule; or
(C) Take any other action authorized by law
to correct the misuse of funds or to demand reimbursement of misused
funds.
13. Reimbursement of Funds:
(A) If, after funds are expended to complete
an approved project that has been specifically appropriated, funds remain in
excess of the project cost, the recipient shall provide reimbursement of any
unexpended funds within 30 days after the project cost has been fully
funded.
(B) If, as a result of an
audit as outlined in Section 11 of this Rule, it is found that a recipient of
funds from the General Improvement Fund has expended funds for any purpose
other than that approved, the recipient shall provide reimbursement of expended
funds within 30 days after receipt of the audit report.
(C) Reimbursement of expended or unexpended
funds shall be made through a check payable to: DFA Disbursing Officer and
mailed to P.O. Box 2485, Little Rock, Arkansas 72203-2485. The DFA Disbursing
Officer shall deposit the reimbursement as a refund of the expenditure into the
fund from which it was originally disbursed. If a reimbursement check is
returned due to insufficient funds or is dishonored for any other reason, it
shall be considered that said payment was not made.
(D) If a recipient of funds hereunder does
not provide reimbursement of misused funds as directed under this section, the
Chief Fiscal Officer of the State may make a recommendation to the Legislative
Council between sessions and to the Joint Budget Committee during sessions that
no further funds be appropriated for use by the fund recipient from the General
Improvement Fund.
14. Rule Supplemental to Current Law: No provision of this Rule shall be considered to repeal any requirement of existing law or rules promulgated pursuant to existing law.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, we have hereunto set out hands this ______ day of September 2005.
_______________________________
Richard A. Weiss, Director
Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration and Chief Fiscal Officer
______________________________
Tim Leathers, Deputy Director and Commissioner of Revenue
Disclaimer: These regulations may not be the most recent version. Arkansas may have more current or accurate information. We make no warranties or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the information contained on this site or the information linked to on the state site. Please check official sources.
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