Senators upbraid officials for overpaying employees

State senators scolded Cabinet members and other department officials Tuesday for messy bookkeeping and a perceived disregard for taxpayer money after discovering that public employees had been paid more than $2 million they weren’t due.

State officials are trying to recoup more than $1.5 million from current and former employees, but have written off hundreds of thousands of dollars in other overpayments as uncollectable, the Senate says.

Some of the overpayments date to 1994.

"We don’t have accountability," Sen. Donna Mercado Kim, chairwoman of the special Senate Committee on Accountability, said after a hearing on the matter Tuesday.

"I think they (officials) just haven’t put it as a priority and didn’t think it was important — I don’t know. And that’s what’s troubling. That’s what’s so frustrating about this whole thing. If it was their own money in their own household, I think there would be a different result."

Kim (D, Kalihi Valley-Halawa) heads a special committee formed to review employee compensation and overpayment of salaries. The panel also is examining departments with high rates of overtime and added compensation.

The committee is considering resolutions that would call for financial and management audits for various state departments, but has so far deferred action on those measures while it seeks more information from agencies.

Most of the overpayments stemmed from poor record-keeping of leave time that resulted in workers getting more than they were due, or when an employee left the job.

In one case a Department of Education employee was paid $27,000 after he retired. In another instance a Department of Public Safety employee was overpaid $31,000. The department was able to recover about $15,000 before the worker declared bankruptcy.

Officials said an antiquated, paper-based systems made keeping records more difficult. Improvements are expected to come as part of Gov. Neil Abercrombie’s plan to revise the state’s information technology system.

While some agencies, including the departments of Transportation and Health, were more diligent about tracking sick leave and time off, others appeared lackadaisical and even "flippant," senators said.

Some of the harshest criticism was directed at the Department of Accounting and General Services, which cuts paychecks for state employees. Acting Comptroller Dean Seki testified against an audit, saying his department wanted to work with agencies to improve communication while the planned technology upgrades are being put into place.

"Although we feel that an audit is not necessary, if you folks choose to do so, we would support that audit," he said.

Seki testified that as much as 35 percent of the overpaid money is deemed "uncollectable" for various reasons such as an employee’s death or bankruptcy, or because the worker can’t be located.

In some cases, however, employees were still on the job collecting full paychecks, even though the law allows the state to garnish wages in the amount of $100 or 25 percent of wages in a pay period until the overpaid money is repaid.

Seki said efforts were made in the past to deal with these issues, but he was unable to provide Kim and other panel members with satisfactory answers when pressed on why the state was not more aggressive in trying to identify and collect overpayments.

"What all this shows is the taxpayers’ worst nightmare and perception of government," said Sen. Sam Slom (R, Diamond Head-Hawaii Kai). "You either don’t know or don’t care."

Sen. Clayton Hee (D, Kahuku-Kaneohe) said Seki appeared to show a "flippant disregard" of the committee’s concerns and noted that the Senate has yet to confirm his appointment. Seki’s appointment has been referred to the Public Safety, Government Affairs and Military Operations Committee.

"If this is the type of response you give to the confirming committee, there’s a long road to hoe for you," Hee said. "Your answers are unacceptable."