How did former 果酱视频 city Comptroller Darlene Green end up back on the city payroll, to the tune of about $13,000 in two payroll checks that no one is explaining and that even she says she wasn鈥檛 aware of?
Maybe it was an overly loyal former Green employee in City Hall? Maybe it was an earnest attempt to fix a pension snafu gone awry? Maybe it was as simple and innocent as a computer glitch?
As Mayor Cara Spencer told the Post-Dispatch鈥檚 Joe Holleman last week, 鈥This is bonkers.鈥 That鈥檚 an apt description of the situation. Spencer鈥檚 vow, and that of current city Comptroller Donna Baringer, to quickly get to the bottom of it is the only acceptable course.
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What would be unacceptable is if this case is ultimately closed without explaining to the public, in granular detail, exactly how this happened 鈥 innocent or not. And that must be followed up by a comprehensive audit of the city鈥檚 payroll system to find out if it鈥檚 happening elsewhere.
Green was the city鈥檚 elected comptroller for 30 years before losing her latest reelection bid to Baringer in April. Prior to Green鈥檚 initial election as comptroller in 1995, she was an employee of the city budget department.
Though Green hasn鈥檛 worked at that department for three decades, the city cut a check to her on July 18 as if she was still a departmental employee 鈥 and a strangely high-paid one at that.
As Holleman reported last week, a check was issued to Green for almost $6,500, covering two weeks of work. A second check had been scheduled to go out as of the end of last week. That comes out to an annual salary of some $168,000 鈥 about $11,000 more than the director of the whole department currently makes.
Not that the amount is even the point. Why are paychecks being cut for this now-retired city employee in any amount?
The initial check never was sent to Green but remained uncashed in the budget department office. Green last week told Holleman she wasn鈥檛 aware the check had been cut.
鈥淲ow, did they do that?鈥 Green asked him. 鈥淐an you find out (what happened) and let me know?鈥
Green confirmed to Holleman that, separately, she has received a monthly pension payment 鈥 $3,751, according to records 鈥 but she noted she had some trouble getting them started.
One theory is that someone in City Hall, in an effort to get the pension payments started, accidentally restored Green as a full-time employee. If so, who? And how could that happen? And why is the amount of the new paycheck so inflated?
The answers would seem to reside with the city personnel department, the agency that places employees on the city payroll. The personnel department director and supervisors were unavailable for comment last week.
As the mayor and current comptroller pursue information on this issue, it鈥檚 important they don鈥檛 limit the investigation to Green鈥檚 paychecks alone. Had Holleman not broken that story, it鈥檚 possible no one would have noticed checks were being improperly cut to one former official.
Are there others we still don鈥檛 know about?
Mayor Spencer and Comptroller Baringer should jointly call for an independent audit of the city鈥檚 entire payroll system to address that question. Innocent or not, this is the kind of mystery that, left unsolved, will further corrode public confidence in a city government that has long had trouble earning it.
