ALBANY, NY — New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli released a local government audits on Port Chester Payroll.
The Audit Objective was to determine whether certain full-time Village employees who simultaneously worked another full-time municipal job worked the hours the Village compensated them for working.
The audit found Village officials did not establish adequate time and attendance controls so the OSC could not confirm the three employees identified worked all the hours they were paid for; employees’ days and hours worked were adequately documented, certified by the employees or verified by a supervisor.
Leave usage paid, totaling $3,979, was not deducted from leave accruals, and 536 hours of leave was taken without the use of time off request forms, as required.
The OSC recommended the Village establish adequate T&A controls, ensure employees and department heads certify that the time records report actual time worked and ensure that leave usage is properly approved, reported, recorded or deducted from accruals.
In 2017, the OSC found the Village of Port Chester paid out large sums in overtime to police officers rather than hire new officers.
2020 Village of Port Chester – Dual Employment (2018M-91)
2017 Village of Port Chester Payroll
The Village paid approximately $3 million for overtime wages, with $2.2 million1 or 72 percent paid to the police department. Because the police department’s management monitored overtime, we were able to determine that over 50 percent of the police department’s overtime was due to staff shortages. Based on the overtime hours that resulted from the shortages and the cost of a new officer, we estimate that the Department could hire five new officers without increasing overall costs.