Superintendent Vallas comments on audit findings, overpayment issues
11/3/2009 12:00:00 AM
Response to audit findings on vehicle use
Recently, the Louisiana Legislative Auditor’s office released a report on the use of a state vehicle assigned to me as superintendent. When I was asked to leave my family in Northern Illinois and come to New Orleans, I made only one request – that I be provided a vehicle for work and personal use, including travel back home to visit family.
At the same time, I gave up the security personnel and the driver that the past superintendents have been provided and refused to seek compensation for extra time worked, late evenings and weekends. In my case, this added up to the equivalent of eight additional weeks worked without compensation. I even refused to take per diems for school-related business travel.
I came to New Orleans at great personal sacrifice, leaving my family and taking a substantial pay cut. My one request was the use of a vehicle because I do not fly.
As noted in the Legislative Auditor’s report, my supervisor approved my personal use of the vehicle and it was my understanding that the vehicle could be used without restrictions.
Any failure to comply with the state’s rules and regulations regarding use of a state vehicle were unintentional. In an effort to prevent any future questions or concerns about my vehicle use, I no longer rely on a state automobile for transportation of any nature, personal or professional.
Overpayment issue illustrates challenges, solutions
This week’s article in The Times-Picayune on overpayments is a reminder of the tremendous difficulties the Recovery School District has faced and worked to overcome in the past several years. We’ve built a school district literally from scratch. The payroll system we inherited was inadequate for our needs, and was largely responsible for overpayments that have occurred. This problem has been all but eliminated as we promised since the RSD implemented key payroll reforms in 2008.
Make no mistake; we take this matter seriously and we are working to recoup all overpayments. At the same time, we must emphasize a few points: The overpayment totals were significantly less than originally estimated. Our records show there are only three current employees with overpayments, and all three are on payment plans.
The overpayment problem has been greatly reduced with the switch to a system of positive time entry. Since our payroll reforms in August 2008, we’ve had overpayments totaling about $47,000 for 60 employees, with most the overpayments attributable to data entry errors. Those numbers are small considering that the RSD pays annual salary and benefits totaling $98 million for more than 1,700 employees.
No organization can completely eliminate overpayments, because people can make mistakes. We have worked aggressively to identify all of the past overpayments and are diligently seeking recoupment. Our resolve is apparent in the fact that we have so far turned over cases representing nearly $300,000 to the state Attorney General’s office.
This matter is, and will continue to be a priority.
News flash