Two major factors contributed to spending below the Board’s FY2020 total appropriation:

■ The amount spent in Class 100 funds during FY2019 was less than the appropriated amount for two reasons. First, the Board requested, and the Budget Office approved moving $50,000 from Class 200 to Class 100, Salaries, in FY2020 so that the Board could fill an additional Staff Attorney position. However, later in FY2020 there was one retirement and two resignations of staff members. The Board continues to hire new staff in FY2021 to fill these vacancies.

■ The amount spent in Class 200, Purchase of Services, during FY2020 was less than the amount appropriated, even though $50,000 was transferred from Class 200 to Class 100 for FY2020. This is primarily because the Board cannot know with any certainty during the budget process how much Class 200 funding will be needed in the next fiscal year to purchase professional services for accounting, computer and other forensic professional services related to complex investigative matters, and for professional information technology services. The $52,500 Class 200 appropriation was therefore more than the $42,473 actually spent in FY2020.

Additionally, the change in work environment due to the COVID-19 pandemic meant that many of the services such as timecycle deliveries and court reporting which would occur in Q3 and Q4 of the fiscal year did not because the office was operating remotely. It should be noted that the Board has similarly spent well below its Class 200 allocation in all fiscal years prior to FY2020.

Between July 1, 2019 and June 30, 2020, Board spending included the following: