State computer may have dispensed wrong pay

Monday, April 2, 2001 | 11:40 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- A computer system in the state Labor Commission's office might have caused construction workers on public works projects in Las Vegas to be incorrectly paid, a legislative audit shows.

The maligned computer system, the cost of which has exceeded budget projections, has not been installed and fully operational as scheduled, according to audit.

"As of June 30, 2000, nearly $300,000 has been spent on a system that has taken more than four years to develop and falls short of expectations," said the audit, released today.

The labor commissioner's office was the latest to join a growing list of state agencies with problems related to the installation of the computer system. Others include the state Welfare Division, the Tax Department and the Division of Wildlife.

The audit, performed by Chief Deputy Legislative Auditor Stephen Wood and auditors Jeff Ferguson and Michael Spell, said the shortcomings are due in part to poor communication between the labor commissioner's office and the Department of Information Technology, which developed the system. But it said current Labor Commissioner Terry Johnson improved communication when he took over.

In 1994 an audit recommended the labor commission office develop a simplified computer system but instead chose to have the Department of Information Technology design a complex and costly system.

"None of the system's four components were completed on time. For example, the public works monitoring software was installed more than two years after the estimated completion date," the audit says. The labor commission office could not provide the 1997 and 1999 Legislatures with data.

Because of insufficient testing programming, errors appeared in the prevailing wage calculation. "As a result, the hourly wage rate for some work classifications was not correct," the audit said. There were errors in 25 categories in which the prevailing wage was paid.

For instance, a fence erector working on a public works project in Clark County was under-paid $9.64 an hour. He should have received $27 but got $18. Conversely, alarm installers received an extra $3.21 an hour and a sprinkler fitter got an extra $7.86 an hour because of computer errors. This was for the period from October 1999 to September 2000.

"In addition, the system does not always provide reliable information needed to assist with the office's oversight of public works projects and wage claims," said the audit.

Six of the 10 reports that supply information on public works project activities are not used by the staff because they contain inaccuracies. And the staff must manually track performance data.

Ad of June 30, 2000, according to the audit, the office spent nearly $300,000 on development, though not all the bills have been paid. And the accounting records do not show actual costs.

In his response to the audit, Johnson said his agency had no choice but to follow the recommendations of the Department of Information Technology to develop a complex system. Johnson said he was not in charge when the decision was made.