NATIONAL LEGAL AND POLICY CENTER
"Promoting Ethics in Government"
103 West Broad Street, Suite 620
Falls Church, Virginia 22046
703-237-1970, Fax 703-237-2090
www.nlpc.org, nlpc@nlpc.org

Legal Services Accountability Project
 
SPECIAL REPORT TO CONGRESS
 
July 2000

 
The LSC Case Over-Counting Scandal of 1999
 

 
APPENDIX 4
(Excerpt)
 
Legal Services Corporation
Fact Books for 1996 and 1997 Programs
($ in millions/cases in millions)

 
1996
1997
Federal Appropriation
$278.0
$283.0
Amount of Non-LSC Funding
$209.0
$228.8
Total Funding 
$487.0
$511.8
Number of Programs Receiving Grants
281
269
Number of Cases Closed During Year 
1.426
1.461
Number of Cases Open on December
0.420
0.472
Total Number of Clients Served
1.846
1.933
 

Comments:
1. The average cost per case for the 1996 program is $341 ($487 million/1.426 million closed cases).

2. The average cost per case for the 1997 program is $350 ($511.8 million/1.461 million closed cases.

3. The Corporation summed .420 million open cases with 1.426 million closed cases in 1996 to arrive at a "clients served" total. Single open cases in 1996 were recounted as part of the 1997 program when the Corporation used the same procedure to arrive at a "clients served" total. The recounting occurred because cases open at the end of 1996 were either closed in 1997 or still remaining open at the end of 1997.

4. OIG staff documented that open and closed case totals in these annual reports to Congress contained a disproportionately large number of cases dating back to previous years, some into the 1980's. This suggests some programs may prop up annual case totals by reporting old cases in current reporting periods. When local programs fail to properly manage and report cases in the year the service was provided, they wind up recounting them year after year.



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