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Thomas' Job In Doubt Over Miscues On Insurance

By:  Brian Meyer
News Staff Reporter

The future of Buffalo's embattled human resources commissioner remained clouded Friday after an audit discovered that the city paid $2 million for health insurance premiums for 152 deceased employees.

Mayor Byron W. Brown said he was troubled that problems highlighted in a January audit were apparently not rectified, even seven months after he demanded that steps be taken to deal with deficiencies. Brown isn't ruling out the possibility that he might push to remove Human Resources Commissioner Karla L. Thomas from her $91,734-a-year job.

"I'm not taking anything off the table," Brown replied when a reporter asked if Thomas' job might be at risk.

But the chairman of the Common Council's Finance Committee said he thinks ample evidence already supports Thomas' removal. South Council Member Michael P. Kearns said Thomas has had seven months to take what auditors described as simple steps to correct some key problems. Back in January, for example, Brown ordered Thomas to "immediately" subscribe to a death-related database tied to the Social Security Administration.

"Are we going to wait until we start paying [health insurance for] 400 dead people -- 500 dead people? No. This is a long-standing problem that needs to be addressed, and needs to be addressed ASAP," Kearns said.

But ousting a human resources commissioner isn't as easy it might sound. Thomas is the only commissioner who does not serve at the pleasure of the mayor. The state sets fixed terms for personnel administrators supervising civil service policies, and Thomas' will not expire until September 2014.

Still, some Council members argued back in January that the early audit documented Thomas' incompetence. The report discovered the city made double payments for up to 250 sanitation and water workers. The city has yet to recover the $526,309 overpayment. The audit also red-flagged troubling paperwork backlogs, poor delegation of tasks and a weak system of checks and balances. At the time, Thomas noted that many of the problems highlighted in the audit predated her tenure.

Kearns argued Friday that the case for her ouster has grown stronger following the jolting follow-up investigation by City Comptroller Andrew A. SanFilippo.

"We thought this was something that was going to be rectified over seven months ago, and it just hasn't been done. I think it's inexcusable," Kearns said.

The audit finding health insurance premiums for dead employees covers a period going back to 1998. The majority of the problems, however, involved workers who died in 2009 and this year.

These payments for dead employees continued after the release of the January audit, right up to the last few weeks.

The January audit did not quantify health payments to dead workers but did red flag problems with the way the department was operating and detailed the overpayments to current city workers.

Brown said he's "very disappointed" by the recent revelations. He said he was at a loss to explain why Thomas apparently failed to implement some of the directives he ordered following the release of the original audit in January. The mayor said he has called on the Law Department to review problems in the Human Resources unit, determine what steps should be taken, then work help to implement corrective measures.

"We take any loss of taxpayer dollars very seriously. It is unacceptable. I will not tolerate it as mayor," Brown said.

The city will try to recoup the money, the mayor said. But he admitted that it might not be possible to recover the $2 million.

Still, the mayor refused to characterize Thomas -- a longtime political ally and onetime chairwoman of a political group that he helped to found -- as incompetent.

"I think the commissioner clearly has the ability to do the job. I don't know what has resulted in us being in the position that we're in now."

But Kearns said he believes Thomas' 23-month tenure clearly has been marred by incompetence.

"We don't read about the county or other municipalities paying for health insurance for dead people," Kearns said. "I think there's a way to get this done."

Two Common Council members who are closely allied with the mayor said they want more information before they decide whether Thomas is the problem. North Council Member Joseph Golombek Jr. said he's "very concerned" by the recent disclosures. But both Golombek and Masten Council Member Demone A. Smith pointed out that some of the health insurance premiums in question involve former city workers who had died since 1998 -- a decade before Thomas moved into City Hall.

But auditors were quick to point out that all but a handful of cases involved employees who have died within the past two years.

"To be honest, it's a disgrace," Comptroller SanFilippo said. "It's a major embarrassment to the city and a $2 million slap in the face to taxpayers."

Smith asked what the comptroller's office has done to help correct problems in the Human Resources Department.

"Instead of just telling us there are more dead people [on the benefits rolls], tell us how we can stop it," Smith said.

Auditors pointed out that they made such recommendations seven months ago, but for the most part, they fell on deaf ears.

Smith also questioned whether the comptroller's office should have played some role in tracking benefit payments from the start.

"I have tremendous respect for Demone Smith and the job he does for his community," SanFilippo replied. "But I think his comments demonstrate a complete lack of understanding as to how the Human Resources Department functions."