CLAYTON 鈥 狐狸视频 County overpaid dozens of employees more than $195,000 in total over eight years, including to some workers no longer employed, according to salary records.
The county overpaid 61 staffers in 12 departments, including the County Council and County Executive Sam Page鈥檚 office, since 2016. Officials blamed a lack of controls in the county鈥檚 payroll system and miscommunication between departments.
鈥淲hat it all points to is a lack of a firm process to follow,鈥 said Republican Councilman Dennis Hancock, of Fenton.
Overpayments only became public earlier this month after a whistleblower notified Page鈥檚 administration about incorrect payments to Auditor Toni Jackson in the County Council鈥檚 office. The revelation comes after a year of infighting between council members and Page, and just days before a contentious primary election. Last week, Page started an investigation into two other council employees who had been overpaid.
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Over the past few weeks, the council has been trying to figure out who else was overpaid, and asked the human resources department to compile numbers.
Page knew about the overpayments in previous years, and he 鈥渆nsured they were rectified,鈥 spokesperson Doug Moore said.
But county records show more than $91,000 hasn鈥檛 been paid back.
Moore said the county doesn鈥檛 expect to recover about $60,000 overpaid to employees who don鈥檛 work for the county anymore.
Page鈥檚 administration wants three employees of the County Council, however, to pay back about $31,000 overpaid to them.
鈥淲e are trying to get the council and its employees to return the funds so that can be rectified as well,鈥 Moore said.
But emails show the county human resources department worked with council staffers on the raises, and never raised any concerns.
鈥淭here was never any question from HR as to who approved those raises, or did they have the authority to approve them. It was just done,鈥 Hancock said.
Council members discussed the issue for almost seven hours in a closed meeting last week. After questioning county human resources staffers in that meeting, Hancock said he believes the overpayments were 鈥渉onest mistakes,鈥 but that Page unfairly blamed employees, including the auditor.
Page鈥檚 spokesperson on Wednesday mostly blamed inadequate salary software and miscommunication. The county uses multiple payroll systems instead of just one, and departments don鈥檛 always communicate about pay raises.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 know how common overpayments are, but I know mistakes happen,鈥 Moore said.
How did the overpayments happen?
According to county records, the overpayments happened in a dozen departments since 2016:
- Health: $62,893 to 34 employees
- County Council: $45,359 to three
- Municipal court: $29,250 to one
- Police: $20,036 to five
- Justice services: $13,493 to five
- Highways: $8,412 to four
- Human services: $6,438 to two
- County counselor: $4,312 to two
- Children鈥檚 services: $1,808 to one
- Revenue: $1,560 to one
- Parks: $1,473 to two
- County executive: $610 to one
Clerical errors and miscommunication led to overpayments to employees, Hancock said. Sometimes an error caused overpayments from the time the county hired an employee, he said.
Moore said about a third of the overpayments stemmed from a single mistake: Last year, non-union county staffers got a 4% raise, and union workers got a 3% raise. The county mistakenly applied the 4% raise across the board, then later had to claw back the 1% difference from the union workers.
In some cases, the county paid at least one paycheck to people it no longer employed, Hancock said, citing information provided by the county administration department director, Rodney Gee, who oversees human resources.
Nine were paid after they left county employment. The records say the county failed to terminate payments when they left.
Moore said he wasn鈥檛 aware of any payments to former employees.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 believe that to be true,鈥 Moore said.
鈥業鈥檓 not sure what to do鈥
Emails between County Council staffers and the human resources department reveal an imperfect pay raise system where pay raises were calculated and entered manually, and communication on the process happened over email.
In June 2022, the council鈥檚 clerk, Diann Valenti, emailed with human resources Director Matt Livasy on how to input raises, including her own. Later that month, Valenti communicated with HR manager Jairris Goen about the process. And the next month, Valenti sought clarification from HR administrator Fannie Lindo.
鈥淚鈥檓 worried I鈥檓 too late for this entry and the upcoming payroll but I鈥檓 not sure what to do,鈥 Valenti wrote.
Lindo instructed Valenti on how to calculate the raises. It involved multiple percentages and hourly pay rates.
鈥淭hank you, Fannie. I think I鈥檝e got it,鈥 Valenti responded.
Emails also show human resources staffers were aware of pay increases for council employees whose raises are subject to Page鈥檚 investigation: the auditor, Valenti and council budget policy coordinator Chris Grahn-Howard.
In July 2022, Valenti emailed Lindo about a raise for herself and Grahn-Howard.
In November 2022, Valenti had entered a cost-of-living increase for Jackson, the county auditor, Valenti wrote in an email to Lindo.
鈥淥nce we finish payroll Thursday afternoon, I鈥檒l be able to review, approve and post the increases,鈥 Lindo responded.
Livasy, Lindo and Goen didn鈥檛 respond to requests for comment Wednesday.
An investigation
Page鈥檚 office has hired an investigator to examine how the overpayments happened.
Consultant Garry Earls, who served as the county鈥檚 chief operating officer from 1999 through 2014, will do the investigation at a cost of $75 per hour, and the investigation is expected to last about a month, Moore said.
As of mid-July, $91,615 of the $195,643 had yet to be repaid, according to salary records. The record is a summary of overpayments, and was prepared by the county human resources department.
The county would likely have to go to small claims court to get overpayments back from former workers.
鈥淚t would probably cost us more to try to get that money back than to put that in the lost column,鈥 Moore said.
To avoid future problems, Page鈥檚 administration intends to spend $5.5 million on a new human resources system.
鈥淲e are confident that moving toward this new payroll system will help,鈥 Moore said. 鈥淭he new system will flag improper payments.鈥