State audit of Long Beach disappoints

It took more than a year for State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli to report on Long Beach finances and employee payouts even though his office said most audits take six to nine months to complete.

Even then, the comptroller issued only confidential “drafts” late last month, rather than final reports. The drafts were supposed to be seen only by city officials, not city taxpayers, with a response requested within 30 days.

But for all the time and effort, the comptroller’s findings appear remarkably shallow.

Nassau District Attorney Madeline Singas, a fellow Democrat,  was more hard-hitting in a letter delivered on the same day as the draft audit to city officials, who had asked the status of her investigation and the comptroller’s review.

“Because our criminal investigation is ongoing, I must exercise restraint in my comments, “ Singas wrote. “However having reviewed the records obtained by the comptroller and the auditors’  findings and recommendations, it is clear that the City’s policies and procedures are inadequate, that current and former city officials failed to comply with the plain language of the City Code and former City Manager’s contract, and the City Council has not adequately exercised its oversight authority.”

Singas added she hoped the city would take immediate remedial actions in response to the comptroller’s determination “that payments were made in excess of the limits established in the City Code and the former City Manager’s contract.”

That’s a smack across the face. It also is not new. The Long Beach Herald, angry citizens and Newsday had already reported that former City Manager Jack Schnirman had been overpaid by about $53,000 according to the city code and his employment contract.

The audit concurred that Schnirman had been overpaid by $52,780 when he received a $108,000 payout for unused time when he left Long Beach at the end of Dec. 2017. Schnirman took office Jan. 1, 2018 as Nassau’s newly elected Democratic county comptroller, responsible for monitoring county and agency spending.

When questioned about his payout, Schnirman said he depended upon Long Beach staff to calculate his correct severance.

But the state audit barely mentions Schnirman’s employment contracts. He signed three consecutive three-year agreements after he was hired in Jan. 2012.  Those contracts outlined his duties and stipulated that he was entitled to the same benefits provided by the city code to exempt, non-union appointees: That code limits exempt payouts to 30 percent of unused sick days and 50 vacation days.

The audit touches upon Schnirman’s contract in a footnote, refers generally to Council-approved employment contracts and then mentions Schnirman’s agreement again in a middle of a sentence saying the city code should be followed absent “an amendment to the former City Manager’s employee contract.”  

The audit concurs with everyone else that Schnirman was paid 100 percent for his unused sick time, instead of 30 percent,  and for 52 vacation days, instead of 50.

Newsday has reported that Schnirman gave the city a check for his overpayment the day after the comptroller delivered the draft.

The audit talks about a 2012 retirement incentive, approved by the city council for union and exempt employees, that bumped their sick time payout above 30 percent. But the audit doesn’t mention that the council resolution and a Schnirman memo to employees warned that the incentive was a limited time, 90-day offer.

DiNapoli’s auditors say the city payroll supervisor told them that Long Beach’s practice since 2014 was to pay exempt employees 100 percent of their unused leave time. But Schnirman’s third contract, signed in 2016, clearly cites the city code, which limits sick pay and vacation days. A contract signed two years later should be the controlling document, not an unwritten general practice. The comptroller doesn’t note that.

In addition, Long Beach residents, who compiled personnel payouts through Freedom of Information requests, say the records they collected show that 100 percent sick time payouts were not general practice since 2014. They found 25 exempt employees received payouts from 2014 through 2017 and eight did not get full pay for their unused sick time.

The comptroller also doesn’t mention that at least two of the three people who signed off  on Schnirman’s oversized payout also received more than allowed by the city code: then acting Comptroller Shari James and Deputy City manager Mike Robinson.

The comptroller doesn’t name the two, but refers to James in the audit as “Comptroller B” and reports an overpayment of $14,480 in accrued sick time. Robinson is referred to “Deputy City Manager” in the list of exempt employees who received a payment for unused time even though they continued working. The audit reports the Deputy City Manager received a questionable payment of $35,412.

James left Long Beach in Jan. 2018 to work for Schnirman in the county. She subsequently left the county and is now running as a Democratic candidate for Hempstead Town Board against incumbent Republican Bruce Blakeman.

Robinson is still employed.

Residents contend all three people who signed off on Schnirman’s $108,000 payout received questionable payouts, but acknowledged the city did not turn over requested payroll records for one of them and the audit does not list it.

The obvious question for the state comptroller is this: Why should the people who calculate and supervise payouts follow the city code when they benefit if they don’t?

The audit doesn’t review whether Schnirman’s sick time was correctly calculated. Records indicate it was not.

The draft also does not explore the odd on-and-off city employment of James LaCarrubba, listed as the Secretary to Labor Relations in the audit’s list of questionable separation payments to exempt officers and employees. LaCarrubba left Long Beach to become Hempstead Supervisor Laura Gillen’s chief of staff.

And these are just some of the questions.