CHARLESTON, S.C. - During tight budget times, South Carolina is losing millions of dollars a year because it does not have a central automated system to track child support payments.

The federal government required each state have such a system by 1997. But South Carolina still doesn't have one and, as a result, the Department of Social Services is losing millions of federal dollars.

The loss only adds to the budget problems at an agency which has had $38 million cut from its state budget since 2001. During that time, DSS also lost $20 million in federal money as penalties for not having the automated enforcement system.

The governor's Commission on Management, Accountability and Performance, in its recent report, said the problem needs to be fixed.

Department of Social Services officials know that only too well. The lost federal money could well be used at an agency which, because of budget cuts, has had to cut 1,300 employees during the past 18 months.

"This has been quite a setback for us," says Ginny Williamson, the agency's general counsel. "They are taking money away from us, exactly when we need it to implement a new system."

Nine years ago, DSS signed a contract with Unisys Corp. of Blue Bell, Pa., to create a new computer system linking the agency and clerks of court across the state.

It was to have been in place by late 1995 but was never developed. The state sued and in 2001, received a $17 million settlement from Unisys - money which has been used to offset some of the federal penalties.

The agency has since proposed a new system, which still is awaiting federal approval. DSS needs $27 million in state money to match $53 million in federal money for the new system.

Not getting the new system up also will prove costly. The state will lose $49 million in penalty fees between now and 2007, when the system, if approved and developed, is expected to be operational.

"Getting a program like this up and running is not easy," Williamson says. "It's complicated and it's costly. There is programming. There is training. It's complex."

While the federal government requires the new system, South Carolina does well with the system it currently uses.

The state ranks 17th in the nation in total collection of child support - better than 36 other states, 33 of which have the new certified enforcement systems.

"The clerks of court have been a critical part of our state's success with child support, and I think they will continue to be vital to it," Williamson said.