Overtime costs Corrections

By Bethany Jaeger
Gov. Pat Quinn plans to lay off as many as 1,000 prison workers at the same time a lengthy state audit reveals that overtime costs within the Illinois Department of Corrections increased from $19.2 million to $37 million two years ago because of staffing shortages.


The review by Illinois Auditor General Bill Holland’s office only pertains to fiscal years 2007 and 2008, when the corrections department was managed by a former director and under the administration of a former governor. Former director Roger Walker was appointed by then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Walker was replaced in June by Gov. Pat Quinn’s appointee, Michael Randle.

Holland said the deficiencies, including everything from spending more than authorized by the General Assembly to failing to spend money earmarked for hiring new frontline staff, does not paint a “pretty picture.”

“This goes to the heart of the failure of the management of the department,” he said, adding that because there have not been dramatic changes in the management since the two years in the audit, the foundation going forward is weak. “I think the new director has got some real soul searching to do with his management team.”

One problem cited in the audit was that the department violated the legislature’s intent by not spending extra money dedicated to hire new frontline staff. The General Assembly authorized spending $11.7 million to hire 231 new staff in fiscal year 2007, but only 154 new staff were hired. The next year, the legislature allotted $12 million to hire 500 new employees, but only six were reported as being hired. Instead, according to the audit, the department used the money to pay for existing staff, which also included more expensive overtime costs.

At the same time, the department reported that it lost 324 employees in fiscal year 2007 and 455 employees in fiscal year ’08.

The audit also states that mandatory overtime costs from inadequate staffing levels cost more money — overtime costs increased from $19.2 million in FY07 to more than $37 million the following year. The audit identified 126 employees working at various correctional centers that had worked so many extra hours during FY08 that they earned more $100,000, when their normal salary rates ranged from $40,000 to $75,000 a year. At Stateville Correctional Center, alone, overtime costs topped $13.7 million in FY08.

Anders Lindall, spokesman for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which represents many prison workers, said the most recent tab for understaffing at all Illinois prisons was more than $60 million in fiscal year 2009, which just ended June 30. “That’s a five-fold increase over just a few years ago,” he said.

“On its face it may seem counter intuitive,” Lindall added, “but it’s simple math that hiring new staff at the lowest end of the salary scale and paying them straight time is far cheaper than paying time and a half to more senior employees.”

According to the audit, the Blagojevich administration ordered the department not to hire new front line staff in fiscal year ’08.

“There were clearly directions from the Blagojevich administration that certainly did not help the day-to-day operations of the department,” Holland said. However, he added, 19 of the findings were repeated from the last two-year audit. And 28 new findings were added.

“These were not immaterial findings,” Holland continued. “These were findings of great significance that related from the top to the bottom of financial management of the Department of Corrections. And clearly it demonstrated that there was a failure on the part of the management of the Illinois Department of Corrections.”

Januari Smith, spokeswoman for the corrections department, said in an e-mail that the department already is looking to reduce overtime costs while also preparing for potential layoffs planned by Quinn. “A cadet class graduated from the academy last week and will be on the job soon. As well, another cadet class will begin in mid-August. Those staff affected by layoffs may be eligible for vacancies at other facilities across the state.”

Smith added that other corrective action is challenged by current budget constraints. “IDOC has limited resources and is working with antiquated systems. It’s a challenge to keep up with increasing requirements and a decreasing staff.”

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Impeachment: Day 3

The evidence gathered during the third day of the Illinois House’s impeachment investigation will play a role in committee members’ decisions about whether to recommend impeachment of Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Yet the answers committee members could not get from witnesses today is likely to be just as important, if not more, in determining whether the governor is fulfilling his constitutional duties.

Questions floated during today’s nearly seven-hour hearing focused on three things:

1. Has the governor exceeded his authority, and is he directly responsible for the expansion of a state health care program without legislative approval?
2. Do particular state audits of his administration document a habitual ignorance or flat-out disregard for state and federal laws?
3. Has his administration unnecessarily and inappropriately withheld information from the public?

Ultimately, the committee is looking for a pattern of behavior. Today’s testimony offered information that dated back to 2003, the first year Blagojevich took office.


“For those of us who have been around the building for the last six or seven years, some of it’s old news,” said Steve Brown, spokesman for House Speaker Michael Madigan, who is presiding over the impeachment investigation. “But in the context of a pattern of abuse of power, abuse of law, abuse of the appropriations process, I think it all shows a real pattern of behavior.”

The known work of the committee is done, Brown said. But it’s unknown yet whether the U.S. attorney’s office will give the OK to invite testimony from people involved in the ongoing criminal investigation(s), mainly Ali Ata and Joseph Cari (see the Day 1 blog). The committee went home for the weekend but will return to the state Capitol at noon Monday. Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie, committee chair, told members to be prepared for two days of work, but the specific agenda is unknown.

Here are some highlights of information gathered from today’s hearing:

Administrative authority (JCAR)
Committee members could not get straight answers about who ultimately made the decision to expand the state-sponsored health insurance program despite rejections the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules. Simply called JCAR, the bipartisan legislative panel reviews administrative rules to make sure they stay true to the legislative intent. Read lots of background information about the expansion of FamilyCare in previous blogs.

A group of businessmen filed a lawsuit against the governor, claiming that he expanded a state-sponsored health care program to middle-income families without legislative approval and without specific spending authority to pay for it.

Director Barry Maram pointed out that court rulings have not specifically addressed whether the Department of Healthcare and Family Services had authority to expand the program. Court decisions so far have only determined that the eligibility criteria used for the FamilyCare expansion don’t abide by federal employment rules (see more here).

Fun fact: Since JCAR was created 31 years ago, nearly half of the rules it has suspended or prohibited have happened during the past six years of the Blagojevich administration, according to Vicki Thomas, executive director of JCAR.

The governor’s office has said JCAR is just an advisory body. Thomas said if the state didn’t have a JCAR, it would lead to “abuse of power and serious problems of separation of powers because then you would have the administration making law.”

Audits
Auditor General Bill Holland cited a June 2005 audit that documented significant problems in the agency where the governor consolidated many of the state’s important functions, Central Management Services. So-called efficiency initiatives turned out to be not so efficient, costing state agencies more money than they saved, Holland said. But the agency’s contracting practices were even more problematic. Many times, members of the governor’s staff played key roles in selecting the companies that would receive the state contract, which is unusual, he said. In one instance, a state contract was granted to an agency that did not yet exist.

Holland said routine requests for such information as contracts and travel vouchers also have been problematic. “Every year those are questions we’re going to ask … but when we ask for information and it is now being routinely given to legal staff, that is not making it any easier. It is making it more complex,” he said.

Holland also repeated the scenario in which he said the governor illegally tried to import doses of flu vaccine after initial scare of a shortage, but the U.S. government never approved the European vaccine. It eventually was meant to ship to Pakistan, but it didn’t get used there, either, because it expired.

Freedom of Information
The administration had shown “disregard” and “contempt” of the law on rather routine requests for public documents under the state’s Freedom of Information Act, said Jay Stewart, executive director of the Chicago-based Better Government Association. He said the administration repeatedly denied his requests, which isn’t that unusual. But what is unusual is that officials couldn’t confirm whether they had the information requested, and if they did have the information, they wouldn’t provide it. Stewart said it was the first “hypothetical denial” he’s ever received. The association has been trying to get access to federal grand jury subpoenas served upon the administration.

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Auditor General Disses State Fire Marshall’s Office

I’ve been reading state audits since the mid-1970’s when I served on the Legislative Audit Commission.

Take a look at these negative findings for the State Fire Marshall’s Office. They are pretty bad. 27 negative findings this year compared to 9 last year.

The Office did not

• exercise proper control over the contract and monitoring of the monies paid from the Firefighters Memorial Fund.
• maintain adequate documentation for an Interagency Agreement.
• competitively procure services, timely approve contractual and grant agreements, or prepare and file written contracts as required.
• maintain adequate controls over employees designated to work from a home office or the Office’s various locations.
• sufficiently monitor and pursue collections on delinquent accounts receivable.
• adequately utilize its State vehicles, request approval for lesser usage, justify all vehicle assignments, or have established criteria or documentation for vehicle replacement decisions.
• adequately monitor and document meal reimbursements.
• had a high number of past due inspections of Boiler and Pressure Vessels.
• comply with licensing and fee provisions of the Pyrotechnic Distributor and Operator Licensing Act.
• adopt rules for the administration and enforcement of elevator safety and installation standards during the examination period.

Whatever it “did not” do, a State Fire Marshall’s car was in Crystal Lake May 25th when a big house burned in the Wedgewood subdivision to the south of mine.

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If you click on the picture, you can see the car is from the State Fire Marshall's Office.

And, if you want to see a Regional Superintendent of Schools run amuck, take a look at this audit summary. Nepotism, no shows, indictments, undocumented bonuses. The good news? It's about a "former" Regional Superintendent.

Posted first on McHenry County Blog.

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