Camden, NJ: School district pays dead man $130,000 per year

[KBCraig]

Won't surprise those of you escaping from NJ, I'm sure.

I wonder if he was still voting?


http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,250020,00.html

New Jersey City Pays Dead Man $130,000 a Year

Saturday, February 03, 2007

CAMDEN, N.J.  ?  Talk about lying down on the job!

A recent audit of cash-strapped Camden, N.J. school district's finances found it was paying an employee $130,000 annually ? and he's been dead for more than three decades.

City officials were shocked by the discovery.

The independent audit of Camden schools found fiscal mismanagement and lax controls for payroll, purchasing, and accounts payable, reported WPVI-TV in Philadelphia.

Camden has been plagued with scandal and is known as the nation's poorest city.

The audit also found outside vendors have been overpaid more than $17 million. In one case the district forked over $953,000 for copy equipment even though the purchase order was for only $55,000.

"It's just totally unbelievable and absolutely incredible that we can have such a dysfunctional system in place," said school board president Philip Freeman.

Residents are angered by the fiscal mismanagement.

"I think this is pretty clear evidence that we've got to be more aggressive with our following and ensuring changes actually do take place," said New Jersey Education Commissioner Lucille Davy.

Camden officials have 45 days to put a corrective action into place.

Davy also told WPVI-TV that she is hiring a retired state police investigator to keep a close watch on the finances.

[Otosan]

A recent audit of cash-strapped Camden, N.J. school district's finances found it was paying an employee $130,000 annually ? and he's been dead for more than three decades.

Some one had to be getting that check and cashing it.  sheech to have such a job.   

[KurtDaBear]

You'll note the article contains not even a hint of criminal investigations or prosecutions.  The only mention of police is that they're going to hire a retired one to check on the money, so they'll add a double-dipper to the payroll, leave the crooks in place, and keeping whining to the taxpayers that they need more money.

The dead guy must have been retired.  That's the only way to get a salary from 30 years ago up to $130,000 for someone in a position so low that no one knew he was dead.  Most school pensions are inflation-adjusted, so you're making more a few years after you retire than you were working and it just keeps going up.

[LiveFree]

Hey, it's not like it's their money or anything, why should they care?  They can just make more withdrawals from the resident's pockets!

[CNHT]

You'll note the article contains not even a hint of criminal investigations or prosecutions.  The only mention of police is that they're going to hire a retired one to check on the money, so they'll add a double-dipper to the payroll, leave the crooks in place, and keeping whining to the taxpayers that they need more money.

The dead guy must have been retired.  That's the only way to get a salary from 30 years ago up to $130,000 for someone in a position so low that no one knew he was dead.  Most school pensions are inflation-adjusted, so you're making more a few years after you retire than you were working and it just keeps going up.

That's only for high end people like police chiefs and other administrators that screw the system with the help of city managers like Paul Beecher, as what happened in Dover NH

The amount of money one's teacher pension increases does not really keep up to matter. It works out to a few dollars. I doubt it would ever exceed what they were making in their last years of employement...