Auditing the books

Sunday, Dec. 12, 2010 | 2:01 a.m.

A legislative audit recently found that some state workers are double-dipping, drawing their salaries and working for the government as contractors on the side. An audit released Wednesday showed a number of abuses in the practice, including excessive pay and employees who did their contract work on state time.

The state hires contractors, including current employees who can provide expertise outside of the agencies they work for, to save money. The audit found that 250 current or former state employees were hired during the fiscal year that ended in 2009 and were paid $11.6 million. But the state hasn’t necessarily saved money with contractors. As Cy Ryan and David McGrath Schwartz reported last week in the Las Vegas Sun, the audit found several troubling instances:

• In some cases, former and current workers were paid at hourly rates that were significantly higher than employees. One contractor was paid $350 an hour instead of the $65 an employee would have made. There were several other cases in which contractors were paid more than double the employee rate.

• One state employee, contracting with another agency, was paid for 25 hours in one day. Another took a day of sick leave to work for another agency — at a rate of $250 an hour.

• Eight employees either did their contract work while on the clock or couldn’t provide evidence that they did the work on their own time.

The findings stunned some members of a legislative committee reviewing the report, and the panel voted to turn the audit over to the attorney general’s office to determine if any laws were broken.

Some people will see the audit as a sign of state spending that’s out of control, particularly given the budget crisis. There is no doubt that there is a problem with these contracts, but that doesn’t necessarily suggest a larger problem with spending. Considering the budget deficit for the next two years could reach $3 billion, the amount spent on these contracts is small.

Nonetheless, there is no excuse for such waste, no matter what amount. The state should clean up its act. The real problem is Nevada doesn’t pay enough attention to contracts like this. Auditor Eugene Allara said the state doesn’t have “adequate controls to prevent current employees from performing contractor activities during their state work hours.”

Andrew Clinger, state budget chief, said consultant contracts are “out of hand” and said he is naming a task force to tighten controls. That’s a good step, but more can be done between the administration and the Legislature.

In 2009, the Legislature approved a bill intended to provide more oversight to state contracts, as well as commissioning the audit. Gov. Jim Gibbons vetoed the bill, saying it was an “unwarranted encroachment” of the executive branch, but the Legislature overrode the veto.

Undeterred, the Gibbons administration tried to cut the Legislature out of the loop. Gibbons ordered state agencies to ignore many requests for information from the Legislature, saying they took too much time, and he has fought with lawmakers.

This audit, which only reviewed a portion of state contracts, shows the problem with the way the outgoing Gibbons administration conducted business. There obviously hasn’t been enough oversight of state spending, and the audit is further proof of that.

Good governance isn’t a territorial issue, and Gov.-elect Brian Sandoval would be wise to work with the Legislature to make sure that state is spending its money correctly and wisely.