Auditor faults Richmond schools’ human resources, payroll departments

The Richmond school system's payroll department is overstaffed but has been unable to detect overpayments, accurately track time off or collect money it is owed by employees, according to a report released yesterday by the schools' internal auditor.

In addition, an audit of the system's human resources department, also released yesterday, showed a department operating on the fringe, with out-of-date policies and procedures and ineffective management. Neither department has seen updated guidelines since the mid-1990s.

"We have a lot of concerns with policies and procedures," internal auditor Debora R. Johns told the School Board's Audit Committee.

Her review of payroll information, covering the period from July 1, 2006, to May 31 of this year found a number of problems, including:

• Overpayments to 19 employees, totaling $50,356.96. The biggest was $10,050 to an employee who was paid while on education leave. While that employee has agreed to repay the money -- in $50 increments over 201 pay periods -- four other employees may have gotten away with keeping $1,710.64 in overpayments, according to the report.

• Employees taking off time but not recording it, leaving time off on the books that had been used. There were also problems with the awarding, tracking and use of compensatory time off, with no single way of recording such time.

• Sloppy record-keeping. A spot review of 30 employee files became a review of 29 files when one employee's file couldn't be found. Of those files in place, all were missing certain forms, including copies of photo identification, Social Security cards and internal paperwork used to prove job status.

The human resources audit, which covered the period from July 1, 2007, to May 31, 2009, focused on a lack of strong leadership in the department and vague, dated procedures.

"This is the cumulative effect of long-term problems," said Superintendent Yvonne W. Brandon. "These are bigger issues than any one person."

The payroll department has nine employees, and the audit recommended eliminating two positions. While Brandon agreed with most of Johns' findings, she balked at the idea of cutting two of the payroll employees.

She did, however, agree to an aggressive time frame for correcting the problems, with a September target for fixing many of the problems. "We can't afford to wait," she said. "Even if we don't hit the target on all of them, we can't wait to start.

"I welcome audits. They help us identify strategies toward improving."

Johns works for the School Board, not the school administration. While her staff typically works on annual reviews such as those of student activity funds, it also probes deeper issues as deemed necessary by the board.

In November, the department released an audit of the procurement department after the awarding of a contract for an elevator at William Fox Elementary School. That report led the school administration to cancel that contract and reassign the job.

School Board Vice Chairwoman Kimberly B. Gray said the audits were a good starting point for but certainly not the end of the discussion.

"I think [these issues] can be fixed, but it's going to take a lot more discussion, a lot more candor and a lot more digging," she said. "And that's going to make some people uncomfortable."

Contact Zachary Reid at (804) 775-8179 or .