Revenue Sharing Payments to Pitman Township, Illinois

An audit of the revenue sharing account for Pitman Township, Illinois, was made to determine the exact amount of restitution due the township because of acknowledged errors in the information provided to the Office of Revenue Sharing (ORS) by the Bureau of the Census.

GAO found that the reliability of per capita income estimates for small communities is questionable because samples used are not large enough to be representative. The failure of local governments to file reports after the close of each fiscal year showing how they used their revenue sharing funds could jeopardize future entitlement payments to the governments. Some governments were placed on the delinquent list for failing to file actual-use reports, but a review showed that in some cases the governments had submitted their reports after the Bureau of Census cutoff date. In the future, ORS will use computer listings to locate and warn delinquent communities.