St. Paul whistleblower prompts audit

The city of St. Paul was routinely withholding overpayments it should have refunded to landlords until a city employee complained about the practice to state auditors.

The city official in charge of the Safety and Inspections department said that changes will be made in the billing system and that about $800 in overcharges on 29 transactions were an inadvertent mistake.

But the city employee who complained to the State Auditor's Office says the department managers knew money wasn't being refunded and did nothing about it. She also says the amount withheld was well more than $800.

"Bottom line is, it's the people's money, and I'll deal with what I have to deal with," employee Geri Boyd said.

City officials won't comment on personnel issues.

State law requires government employees who think they have found evidence of financial wrongdoing, such as theft or unlawful use of public funds, to report the alleged incident to the state auditor.

Employees should be able to make a complaint without facing any retribution.

State Auditor Rebecca Otto said she couldn't confirm or deny an investigation into the department.

Bob Kessler, director of Safety and Inspections, did confirm that auditors were in his department over the past few weeks.

Boyd, 59, has worked for the city since 1993. About eight months ago she began working in the Fire Inspections Department as a clerical worker. Her duties included processing checks from property owners for rental licenses.

It wasn't long, she said, before she noticed people were overpaying their bills. When she raised this, she said, the computer system was manipulated and she was told to enter the full amount of the check anyway.

Kessler said that there was no intentional misuse and that his staff is trying to contact people who are owed refunds.

The invoices sent out to property owners can be confusing, Kessler said, and people were sending in the full amount when they didn't need to. The staff couldn't figure out how to change the overpayment in the computer system, he said, and that's how the issue arose.

"We have some work to do to simplify the system," Kessler said. He said the auditor's staff made some suggestions on how to change the procedure.

"If I was blowing smoke, the audit department wouldn't have taken the time," Boyd said. "They're going to lay it on the employees. But it still goes back to management and not training people to do a job, especially -- especially -- if they deal with public funds."

Chris Havens • 651-298-1542