State audit shows some Iowa correctional services districts got too much vacation

Correctional services employees in three districts, including the Cedar Rapids-based Sixth District, claimed up to a week more vacation a year than they were entitled to under state law, the State Auditor's Office reported.

Three of eight correctional services districts accrued vacation at rates higher than other state employees, resulting in more than $1 million in vacation and sick leave accruals and payments in fiscal years 2010 through 2014, according to a 38-page audit released Wednesday.

'Because district employees participate in SLIP (Sick Leave Insurance Program), they are considered state employees for these benefits and, therefore, the districts should comply with the accrual rates and the maximum vacation accrual established in section 70A.1 of the Code,” the report states.

Sixth District Director Bruce VanderSanden cut vacation and sick accrual to the same rate as other state employees in May 2014, he said Wednesday.

'What they're saying is that if you're going to use the insurance program, you should abide by the accrual rates, and I think that's a valid point,” he said.

There has been long-standing uncertainty about whether correctional services employees, who provide probation and parole programming across the state, are state employees. The districts receive most of their funding from the Iowa Department of Corrections, but have been considered contractors with purchase of service agreements with the state.

The Iowa Attorney General's Office said in September 2014 the districts are governmental subdivisions, not state agencies, but State Auditor Mary Mosiman disagrees.

'Mosiman reported districts have many characteristics of a state agency, including receiving state appropriations and reverting any unused balances and receiving approval from DOC on items such as budgets,” the audit states.

Mosiman wants the Iowa Legislature to clarify how the districts should be classified.

In five of the eight correctional services districts, employees accrued vacation at the same rate as state employees from fiscal years 2010 through 2014, the audit states. This schedule ranged from 12 days of vacation per year for employees who have worked up to four years to 27 days of vacation a year for 25-year or more state employees.

In correctional services districts 1 and 5, based in Waterloo and Des Moines, respectively, employees received about four extra days of vacation a year. In the Sixth District, which includes Linn, Johnson, Jones, Iowa, Benton and Tama counties, employees got five more vacation days per year than state employees in fiscal years 2010 through 2014.

A January 2014 State Auditor's report identified $776,000 in improper disbursements by the Sixth District from fiscal years 2009 through 2012. The bulk of these disbursements came from district managers spending part of their time working with Community Corrections Improvement Association, a non-profit founded in 1991 to complement the district's work. The not-for-profit also used state vehicles, cellphones and office space for free.

The district has since distanced itself from the non-profit, which will close by the end of the year.

The State Auditor launched a second phase of that review in April 2014, but 15 months later, a report on the review hasn't yet been issued.