States' Use of Voluntary Contributions Under Title III of the Older Americans Act

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

Current Administration on Aging (AoA) regulations permit States (contrary to requirements of the Older Americans Act) to use voluntary contributions to meet cost-sharing or matching requirements of grant agreements. Our final report points out that in Fiscal Years (FY) 1996 and 1999 States reported using $155.4 million of voluntary contributions for State matching purposes rather than expanding services (such as congregate and home delivered meals, transportation, and in-home support) as required by the Act. In addition, for FYs 1996 and 1999 respectively, six States retained $9.8 million and eight States retained $11.4 million of voluntarily contributed funds which were not used for nutrition and supportive services. Finally, 16 States and Puerto Rico did not report $557,724 of unobligated FY 1996 Title III funds to AoA in a timely manner. As a result, the funds lapsed without being made available to other States. Among other things, we recommended that AoA revise its regulations to make clear that (1) voluntary contributions are not to be used for cost-sharing or matching, (2) accumulated voluntary contributions are to be used prior to making Federal drawdowns, and (3) voluntary contributions and related interest earned are program income and must be used to expand services. The AoA generally concurred with our findings and recommendations.

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