Forestry division overpaid U.S.

Thursday, Dec. 12, 2002 | 11:10 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- A legislative audit released Wednesday raised the question of whether the state Division of Forestry overpaid the federal government $617,000 for the help it received in fighting range fires in Nevada.

The audit also found the Forestry Division failed to bill the federal government $319,000 for its aid on battling fires on government land.

The audit also found errors in 61 of 100 employee time sheets it examined -- including double-counting hours and overtime worked but not paid to the employee.

"We certainly have problems," State Forester Steve Robinson told the Legislative Audit Committee.

But Robinson said the accounting system was under the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources when the errors occurred, and since then the bookkeeping has been transferred back to his agency.

In addition, Robinson said there were several employee vacancies in the accounting section during the 18-month period, ending Dec. 31, 2001, covered by the audit. Action is being taken to prevent these errors from reoccurring, he said.

The financial examination, outlined by auditor Shannon Ryan, said the Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Forest Service and the Nevada National Guard billed the state $2.4 million for work in suppressing fires on state-controlled land.

Ryan said nine invoices totaling $617,000 did not have sufficient documentation to determine if the charges were appropriate. For instance, she said, the National Guard billed $303,000 for aircraft charges. But the bill was not supported by any flight time documentation, even though some charges exceeded $3,000 an hour.

"Poor documentation increases the risk inappropriate charges may have been included in the bills and subsequently paid," the audit said.

Ryan said the audit uncovered a case in which the Forestry Division did not bill the federal government for $319,000, and another in which the government was over-billed $20,000.

After the auditors notified the department of its errors, department officials billed the National Guard $283,968 and said the remaining amount would be sought later.

The audit also said that some dispatchers in the agency were paid for 80 hours when their workweek was only 64 hours. Some dispatchers also received overtime for working less than 40 hours in a week, according to the audit.