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

FoxNews.com ^ | 02/02/2007

[devane617]

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.

[Emmett McCarthy]

Never missed an election, I'm sure. Man, I want one of them gubmint jobs.

[LibKill]

I remember the "ghost" employees of New Orleans.

I also remember how fast it sank out of sight.

Sorry no links.

[devane617]

Yea, there were many "ghost" police officers in NO, but the story died a quick death.

[dk/coro]

Easy call. Camden is Detroit -- without the auto industry labor unions to help sustain itself.

Detroit is well on its way to replicate this model of urban irresponsible road to ruin.

Maybe the city fathers should call Mayor Nagin for some really sound civic leadership guidance. *S*

[conservative in nyc]

The full audit is available here. No names are listed.

I wonder if a few of these "dead" people are really illegal aliens. Some worked in the lunchroom.

By the way, the headline of this report is misleading. The dead person was paid a little over $130,000 since his or her death in 1974, not each year. Another dead person was paid almost $61,000 after his or her death.

[neverdem]

Hey! They got just the gov't program that they always wanted. How can you take that away?

[razorback-bert]

If I am reading this correctly, $130,000/32 years= $4062.5/yr or $338.54/month or $78.13/week.

This means someone knew or arranged that small checks fly under the audit window.

No accident.

[Calpernia]

They could be illegals. But, they are most likely some of the many from the NJ voter registration "legacy" system.

That system was suppose to be purged in January 2006. It showed a large number of dead voters and phantom addresses.

But the nice Superior Court delayed the purge. Had to ensure a Corzine win you know.

[Calpernia]

No. The fox story is watered down. See my link at 21.

[Lancey Howard]

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.

Notice how that's all there is to the story? No names, no arrests, no criminal referrals, not another word..... only feigned surprise from corrupt scumbags like school board president Philip Freeman, and the same old empty promise that there's going to be "corrective action" from corrupt scumbags like Education Commissioner Lucille Davy. Sure there will.

That taxpayer money - - $130,000 annually for more than three decades - - is gone forever, and nobody will ever be able to "figure out where it went". This is New Jersey, and the people there elect and get exactly what they deserve. Corruption, brazen corruption, is a normal way of life in New Jersey politics. I hope the nice liberal Democrat voters there continue to enjoy those obscene property tax bills. After all, there's "dead people" to pay.

Ha, ha.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

I got my first professional job in 1973. I've never seen one single paycheck from then until now -- always had direct deposit.

[Ptarmigan]

Camden is one of the poorest city in America. Camden is like going to a city that got nuked.

[MarkT]

Your comment is outrageous....I am from the Big Easy....most of us would have taken $75k and died[sic] happy for the last 30 years

[Calpernia]

I'm not able to get that report to open.

[Malsua]

big surprise. Libs paying libs long after death.

This reminds me of Sprint's policy to force someone to pay for their 2 year cell phone contract, even if the person who signed it dies. Seriously.

I have a connection to a guy who died on a donorcycle and his brother tried to cancel his cellphone. Sprint wouldn't do it. I have to laugh. Ok then, geniuses, WRECK his credit. ROFL. He is DEAD, he doesn't need his FICO score any more.

Of course, this is very similar to their "universal default" BS. Miss a payment on one card, all cards can jack the rate to over 33 percent.

I'd like to find the group of folks that think 33%+ interest rate is "A-Ok" and herd them into a "shower room" and inject the worst possible smelling non-lethal gas until they realize they are A$$h0^%s.

[conservative in nyc]

The link is correct, and I'm not having any problems re-opening it (although it might still be in my cache):
http://www.state.nj.us/njded/abbotts/audits/camden.pdf

It is a fairly large file, though (903 KB). So if you're on dial up, it might take a while to download.

[Calpernia]

I'm on DSL.

It isn't even downloading anything.

I'm thinking you are looking at your temporary download file.

I'll try to hit it again tomorrow.

[jrd]

those were the ones Clinton put on all over the country...I believe the story was dropped because its going on all over the cities collecting the money but not hiring anyone

[Calpernia]

I nosed around further. Looks like someone took all the audit links down.


NJDOE News
For More Information Contact the Public Information Office:
Jon Zlock
Kathryn Forsyth, Director
609-292-1126

For Release: January 30, 2007

DOE Releases Reviews of State-Operated Districts and Camden

The results of the performance audits conducted in the Jersey City, Paterson, Newark and Camden School Districts are now available on the New Jersey Department of Education web site, Commissioner Lucille E. Davy announced today.

The audits, which were ordered by the New Jersey Supreme Court last May, included assessments of the quality of the internal controls in key areas in each district, along with analyses of historical expenditures and a review of selected purchase orders. They were prepared by auditors from KPMG LLP in New York.

Under the court order, the audits in the three state-operated districts and Camden were to be completed first. Similar performance audits in the other 27 Abbott districts will be conducted this spring.

“These performance audits are a starting point in the development of a new DOE oversight policy to address the way school districts spend state tax dollars,” said Commissioner Davy. “Governor Corzine is committed to stronger oversight for all levels of government, including improved state oversight to ensure the efficient and effective use of state funds for education.”

She said the KPMG historical spending and selected purchase order reviews indicated that there was little monitoring of spending practices within the four districts and limited oversight and approval processes. Districts also continued to spend considerable amounts of money on travel and food for staff and school board members and make other purchases that the Commissioner said would require additional review and explanation. In addition, greater restrictions on travel and other non-education-related expenses may be necessary.

Another key focus of the audits was a comprehensive review of the various processes and internal controls that the districts have established to conduct their business. Commissioner Davy said that while there were areas of concern in all four districts, Paterson, with 101 internal control observations, and Camden, with 63 internal control observations, “present the most difficult challenges.”

“The Governor is demanding that we do more,” Commissioner Davy said. “We must ensure that the state resources are being spent to meet students’ educational needs and not to serve other purposes. There are too many errors and too many holes in most of these district operations resulting in too many opportunities for questionable activity.”

The Commissioner said she would be asking each district to develop a Corrective Action Plan to address the deficiencies outlined in the audits. She has also directed the districts to gather any documentation that was not available during the audit, as well as additional information necessary to address the questionable costs highlighted and the outliers identified in the historical expenditure analyses.

“The department will work with each district to review the CAPs and follow up on the questionable costs and the additional outliers identified but not assessed as part of the KPMG audit,” Commissioner Davy said.

She noted that under the “School District Fiscal Accountability Act,” signed into law by Governor Corzine last year, a State Monitor has already been appointed for Camden, and that other monitors may be appointed if the fiscal situations in the districts meet the criteria established under the new law.

Finally, the Commissioner also announced that she would be creating a new office within the department that would combine the resources of the existing Office of Compliance Investigation and members of DOE’s fiscal staff to examine these and future audits in more detail. The office would also have the authority to conduct its own reviews of district expenditures and operations. Further details on this office will be announced later this week.

Click here to view the audits:

* Camden - http://www.state.nj.us/njded/abbotts/audits/camden.pdf
* Jersey City - http://www.state.nj.us/njded/abbotts/audits/jerseycity.pdf
* Paterson - http://www.state.nj.us/njded/abbotts/audits/paterson.pdf
* Newark - http://www.state.nj.us/njded/abbotts/audits/newark.pdf

[Afronaut]

"Not a word in the article about the rolling of heads."

The only head that is going to roll is the person who leaked this information to the press.