Year-Round Bonuses, More Misspending at Utility

A new report from the State Comptroller’s Office details a laundry list of misspending at Lincoln County’s water utility. Hundreds of thousand of dollars in unapproved employee bonuses and discounts on water bills were given out as party favors for at least four years.

Some workers were getting extra money on an almost weekly basis, often disguised as overtime. Ten thousand dollars was charged to utility credit cards for things like personal meals and movie tickets. The superintendent kept a utility-owned boat on his own property and did not return it when he retired. What’s more, he didn’t keep a record of his sick days, reporting only about 6 total over 12 years when it was time to turn accrued, unused leave into cash at the time of his retirement.

There was sloppiness, too. More than 40 water meters and a $40,000 backhoe loader went missing from a storage building left unlocked round the clock, along with several crates of other equipment.

Meanwhile, members of the board-who were supposed to oversee the utility-were regularly overpaid, and several were even given adjustments to their water bills.

According to the comptroller’s report, the problems stopped a year ago when the superintendent retired. It says current management has written new, tougher policies in hopes of heading off future problems.