LAS VEGAS -- Some state workers are getting two paychecks at the taxpayers expense. That was just one of the bombshell findings in a recent audit of state worker contracts.
The so-called double dipping has been happening for at least three years. Despite reforms, the audit says lawmakers have been kept in the dark as contracts were passed around.
"People are going to be laid off because of this practice. There's no other way around it," said Geoffrey Lawrence, Nevada Policy Research Institute.
Libertarian government watchdog Geoffrey Lawrence looks at the Contracts with Consultants Audit Report with a mix of shock and disappointment. "This is a loophole that allows them to give kickbacks to their friends," he said.
The audit slams the bureaucracy of Carson City, saying point blank "controls are not in place to prevent abuse" and there is an "increased risk of unnecessary costs." It also highlights a major problem in Nevada known as the so-called revolving door. It's when a state worker retires with a solid pension and then turns right back around to work for the same department under a contract at a higher rate. The audit stresses the lack of control because some employees were paid twice.
"They're paying someone twice for doing the exact same amount of work," Lawrence said.
"It's difficult for me to imagine that there could have been somebody else out there other than a current state employee," said Terry Care, a former Nevada lawmaker who says he didn't realize how much lawmakers were mislead.
The audit says some of the questionable contracts add up to millions of dollars. Care says with continued reform and tougher laws, contract shenanigans can crop up.
"But to make a full time job of investigating -- if you will -- the activities of everybody that's just not possible," Care said.
Another issue was cost. One person was paid 25 hours in one day. "The rates that the consultants are being paid are much higher than the rates they're earning as employees," Lawrence said.
The audit found one former employee received $150 an hour compared to the $71 state hourly rate. In another case, someone received $350 an hour instead of $65 an hour.
Lawmakers passed a bill focused on reform in 2009, after these contracts were in place. But Lawrence worries convenient wording on the contracts still prevents full accountability by lawmakers and transparency for taxpayers.
"I think it's clear that lawmakers are not getting what they wanted when they passed this legislation, he said.
State lawmakers do plan on revisiting this issue and pushing for state agencies to cut back on these lucrative contracts. So far, there have been no specific bills drafted dealing with this issue.
