Emergency managers overpaid in cash-strapped community

An investigation by the Flint Journal in Michigan reveals that several state-appointed emergency managers are being paid six figure salaries. Residents of the "cash-strapped" communities question the high salaries, and many have sued the state.

"By law, the pay of Michigan’s five emergency managers — ranging from $132,000 to $250,000 — is set by the state, but the money actually is paid by the local communities they’re in charge of."

"The call it "piling on": Police officers, looking to pad their paychecks with overtime, add their names to arrest reports and other investigative paperwork, no matter how minor their role. Then, when a case arises in court, they get called to testify - and possibly paid overtime."

The Philadelphia Inquirer has learned that this could have been the case for former Philadelphia Police Lt. Richard Brown. According to Internal Affairs investigators, Brown stretched the truth on paperwork to "rack up nearly $17,000 in court compensation that he wasn't entitled to between 2006 and 2009."

"A review by The Salt Lake Tribune has found that perhaps hundreds of thousands of dollars of Utah's beer tax money have been diverted to other causes or rolled into everyday city or county activities in.

In some cases, the recipients seemingly stretched the interpretation of the statute to justify how they spent the money. Other municipalities didn’t even try to explain how their purchases comply with the law."

"Taxpayers in Colorado's largest school districts have spent more than $5.8 million during the past five years to subsidize the activities of local teachers unions.

The expenses resulted from years of agreements that require tax money to pay for everything from full-time union leaders' salaries and benefits to providing leave for some teachers to attend union conferences, a Denver Post analysis of the 20 largest school districts with collective-bargaining contracts found."

'The Dayton Daily News reports that the U.S. Veterans Affairs inspector general’s office has estimated $500 million worth of VA contracts through the Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business Program go to ineligible businesses each year.

After the VA beefed up its review process over whether firms actually are headed by disabled veterans, it found 1,800 companies were not eligible. Of the 1,800, 70 were referred for criminal prosecution, according to a Nov. 30 report by the Government Accountability Office."

Jack Dolan, Los Angeles Times, found that "California prisons have paid doctors and mental health professionals accused of malpractice an estimated $8.7 million since 2006 to do no work at all or to perform menial chores like sorting mail, tossing out old medical supplies and reviewing inmate charts for clerical errors."

"At least 30 medical professionals have collected their six-figure salaries for a cumulative 37 years...."

"MaryJo Webster of The Pioneer Press reported that the state of Minnesota paid about $57 million in unused sick time from January 2008 to June 2012 to departing workers. Now, Minnesota legislators from both sides of the aisle are calling for inquiries into the payments, with one senator saying, "we need to take an aggressive look so that we make sure that not only the citizens of our state - the taxpayers - are being protected, but also that our employees are protected as well.'"

The calls came after reports in the Pioneer Press and on KSTP-TV on the issue. 

ScrippsNews' Isaac Wolf found that "for thousands of teens accused of crimes, punishment precedes any conviction in court. While awaiting trial and ostensibly presumed innocent, they can be held for months or even years in county jails for -- and sometimes with -- adult suspects.

Federal Bureau of Justice Statistics data shows, in 2010, roughly 5,600 suspects at any given time lack "sight and sound" protection."

NJ Governor Chris Christie hired Louis C. Goetting in 2010 as a budget guru to help trim the cost of government.  But Goetting resembles a problem, not a solution, according to a New Jersey Watchdog analysis of his employment history.

Despite the fact that Goetting was hired to help with the budget, he has raked in "$1.1 million from two severance payouts and an early retirement deal.  In addition, Goetting collects $219,000 a year from the state – a $130,000 salary plus $89,000 in pension payments."

"A Chicago Tribune analysis shows IL Governor Pat Quinn has pledged about half a billion dollars in tax credits over the next decade to create 5,709 jobs and retain 22,610 workers through the Economic Development for a Growing Economy program, or EDGE."

Quinn's focus has shifted from job creation to job retention since he took office in 2009. From a business standpoint, retaining jobs costs less than creating new jobs. However, "more than half of the money Quinn has pledged through May would aid companies that are not required to create a single job, the Tribune found. And some of those companies are industry giants such as, Nestle, Deere & Co. and Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc."