Contact your state comptroller’s office immediately to identify the debtor agency and have the offset amount returned to your HAVA grant. It is important to identify the source of the debt and ensure the state makes a transfer for the full amount authorized by EAC as soon as possible. Any delay in getting the funds returned may cause additional funds to be owed because the full amount EAC disbursed must start earning interest from the date it is deposited in state accounts. If a lesser amount is deposited due to an offset, the state must make the grant whole for both the offset amount and the interest lost caused by the delay in the deposit of the full disbursed amount.

Delays in resolving offsets can result in significant lost interest. Per EAC guidance, timely deposit of HAVA funds into an interest-bearing account is defined as 90 days. In instances where a state is unable to restore the award to the full amount within 90 days, the state must provide written notice with detailed explanation of the delay. Grantees may email their notice to [email protected]. The grants team will review the notice and respond with next steps.

The U.S. Treasury can offset a federal award to collect a debt owed by the state. The debt can be collected from any award regardless of the state agency that owed the debt. There have been a few times that HAVA grants have been offset for debts owed by other agencies. The EAC is not notified if HAVA grants are offset and does not have access to information about the offset. The U.S. Treasury department sends regular reports to the State Comptrollers about offsets.  Those reports identify the agency responsible for the debt, the agency whose federal award was decreased to pay the debt, the amount of the offset, and contact information for the agency responsible for the debt.