State Sets Audit Example

One of the last stories I worked on as a reporter in July 2003 was an overview of City Council cell phone use. Actually, I started working on it much earlier, but due to a certain editor's dilatory ways, I spent much of my first day of retirement on the phone answering his questions.

The story ran on A-1 and jumped to a double-truck centerfold. Its charts, graphics and copy told a tale of cell phone usage that ran the gamut from zero for one council member to shocking excess by another. Soon the governing body established strict policies for cell phone use, with reimbursement required for costs over plan limits.

Today news broke of flawed oversight at the state level. For example, one employee's cell phone bill continued to be paid for six years after his resignation. Numerous unused phone lines were also found in state offices. Click here to read the full audit findings. You can be sure that phone and wireless usage will now be tightened up for millions in savings.

Now that city staffers and officials have pricey devices such as Blackberries, let us hope that the new "DoIT" (Division of Information Technology) plans to look into municipal policies and costs. A tale recently heard in City Hall was that one individual ran up a $2,000 wireless tab before voluntarily reimbursing the city. Unless a person carries two Blackberries, one for official business and one for personal use, it is easy for costs to be commingled. And all that texting under the table may also be expensive.

It's a different world from 2003 in other ways as well. Every year, the city has the same listings in the phone book. There are two listings for the formerly city-run substance abuse recovery program, Dudley House and Project Alert. It has since been privatized. Safe Haven, a grant-funded program that expired many years ago, is still on the list, but callers are asked to leave a message for the "engineer," a role that has also been outsourced. These are small things that could be corrected.

The IT division has only one employee. At the June 28 special meeting, City Administrator Bibi Taylor said the city requested a waiver from a state-imposed hiring freeze to add another employee, but the state never acted on it. IT Director Chris Payne has given one overview of goals for the division and was supposed to give another last month at a council retreat, but it did not take place.

Given the newness of the division and lack of staff, it is not likely that all issues can be addressed. But certainly the lack of fiscal oversight doesn't help. The state audit was performed by the Office of Information Technology within the State Comptroller's office. As bloggers and council members alike have pointed out, the city has no chief finance officer or finance director to mind the local purse strings. The mayor has stated that media and communications should be under her purview, not that of a department head as required by the city's special charter.

The state audit is a good reminder that periodic reviews of various operations can lead to savings. It's a lesson for city officials to take to heart.

--Bernice Paglia