Conservatively Speaking

State Senator Mary Lazich (R-New Berlin) represents parts of four counties: Milwaukee, Waukesha, Racine, and Walworth. Her Senate District 28 includes New Berlin, Franklin, Greendale, Hales Corners, Muskego, Waterford, Big Bend, the town of Vernon and parts of Greenfield, East Troy, and Mukwonago. Senator Lazich has been in the Legislature for more than a decade. She considers herself a tireless crusader for lower taxes, reduced spending and smaller government.

Overtime audit shows decreased costs, questions about surplus positions

audits

The non-partisan Legislative Audit Bureau today released a report about overtime in state agencies and the UW System. According to the audit, state agencies and the UW System paid $360.5 million for nearly 1.9 million hours of overtime from 2006 to 2010.

Overall overtime costs decreased during the five years of the audit; however, overtime payments increased from $68.1 million during 2009 to $69.7 million during 2010. This is in part due to mandatory furlough days and a two percent salary bump for represented employees. During the five years the Audit Bureau examined, the Department of Corrections and the Department of Health Services were responsible for the most overtime costs.

 

One area of concern the audit identified was the expanded use of surplus positions by state agencies. It appears the Doyle administration abused the use of surplus positions. The audit reveals “… surplus positions are intended to be temporary, and s. 16.50(3)(f), Wis. Stats., authorizes their use when ‘necessary to maintain adequate staffing levels for high turnover classifications, in anticipation of attrition, to fill positions for which recruitment is difficult.’” The Doyle administration hired 43.5 full time equivalent surplus positions to process the increased BadgerCare Plus applications and increased demand due to the Doyle administration expansion of BadgerCare Plus.

 

Thanks to the Audit Bureau for another job well done.

 

Here is a link to the audit.

This site uses Facebook comments to make it easier for you to contribute. If you see a comment you would like to flag for spam or abuse, click the "x" in the upper right of it. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use.

Page Tools

Advertisement

Archives