Unused leave and vacation time could cost the state's prison system anywhere between $546 million and $1 billion in coming years - a problem exacerbated by understaffing and furloughs, according to a report on prison health care released yesterday by State Auditor Elaine Howle.
Photo by David Ritter
We told you our estimates were conservative.
In a story earlier this year, we told you about how the state paid out $486 million in unused vacation and leave time between 2006 and mid-2009. Of that, we calculated that at least $100 million was probably used to pay for vacation time that exceeded the amount state employees are allowed to accrue.
We also provided a database that allows users to see how much individual employees took home in unused leave. By our count, nearly 500 state workers cashed in with six-figure paydays. Many of those were from the state's prison system.
Howle's audit deals primary with prison health care costs but also lays out a common problem among state departments, particlarly those dealing in public safety, which typically have the largest unused leave liabilities:
"Whether due to fewer opportunities to use leave or other factors, custody staff have accumulated significant leave balances. Although the work provided when staff choose not to take the full amount of leave they earn during the course of a year reduces the current staffing costs of running the correctional system, the growing leave balances represent a deferred liability.
However, if custody staff used the leave to which they are entitled, Corrections would incur higher overtime costs. The furlough program has exacerbated this situation because of the need to maintain staffing levels in the institutions, causing further increases in total leave balances.
We estimate these total leave balances will result in an eventual cost to the State of at least $546 million and could be more than $1 billion, depending on whether staff are paid for the leave when they quit or retire, or are able to use the leave while they are employed."
"The audit goes on to estimate that furloughs alone have led to between $332 and $518 million in accrued leave for prison guards, not including supervisory officers and other staff. We've explored that subject a number of times as well.
Though the report acknowledges the difficulties in solving the unused leave problem, it recommends that the department make lawmakers more aware of the large deferred liabilities posed by unused leave by providing regular reports to legislative fiscal committees.
