Overtime costs corrections

By Bethany Jaeger
Gov. Pat Quinn plans to lay off as many as 1,000 prison workers at the same time a lengthy state audit reveals that overtime costs within the Illinois Department of Corrections increased from $19.2 million to $37 million two years ago because of staffing shortages.

The review by Illinois Auditor General Bill Holland’s office only pertains to fiscal years 2007 and 2008, when the corrections department was managed by a former director and under the administration of a former governor. Former director Roger Walker was appointed by then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Walker was replaced in June by Gov. Pat Quinn’s appointee, Michael Randle.

Holland said the deficiencies, including everything from spending more than authorized by the General Assembly to failing to spend money earmarked for hiring new frontline staff, does not paint a “pretty picture.”

“This goes to the heart of the failure of the management of the department,” he said, adding that because there have not been dramatic changes in the management since the two years in the audit, the foundation going forward is weak. “I think the new director has got some real soul searching to do with his management team.”

One problem cited in the audit was that the department violated the legislature’s intent by not spending extra money dedicated to hire new frontline staff. The General Assembly authorized spending $11.7 million to hire 231 new staff in fiscal year 2007, but only 154 new staff were hired. The next year, the legislature allotted $12 million to hire 500 new employees, but only six were reported as being hired. Instead, according to the audit, the department used the money to pay for existing staff, which also included more expensive overtime costs.

At the same time, the department reported that it lost 324 employees in fiscal year 2007 and 455 employees in fiscal year ’08.

The audit also states that mandatory overtime costs from inadequate staffing levels cost more money — overtime costs increased from $19.2 million in FY07 to more than $37 million the following year. The audit identified 126 employees working at various correctional centers that had worked so many extra hours during FY08 that they earned more $100,000, when their normal salary rates ranged from $40,000 to $75,000 a year. At Stateville Correctional Center, alone, overtime costs topped $13.7 million in FY08.

Anders Lindall, spokesman for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which represents many prison workers, said the most recent tab for understaffing at all Illinois prisons was more than $60 million in fiscal year 2009, which just ended June 30. “That’s a five-fold increase over just a few years ago,” he said.

“On its face it may seem counter intuitive,” Lindall added, “but it’s simple math that hiring new staff at the lowest end of the salary scale and paying them straight time is far cheaper than paying time and a half to more senior employees.”

According to the audit, the Blagojevich administration ordered the department not to hire new front line staff in fiscal year ’08.

“There were clearly directions from the Blagojevich administration that certainly did not help the day-to-day operations of the department,” Holland said. However, he added, 19 of the findings were repeated from the last two-year audit. And 28 new findings were added.

“These were not immaterial findings,” Holland continued. “These were findings of great significance that related from the top to the bottom of financial management of the Department of Corrections. And clearly it demonstrated that there was a failure on the part of the management of the Illinois Department of Corrections.”

Januari Smith, spokeswoman for the corrections department, said in an e-mail that the department already is looking to reduce overtime costs while also preparing for potential layoffs planned by Quinn. “A cadet class graduated from the academy last week and will be on the job soon. As well, another cadet class will begin in mid-August. Those staff affected by layoffs may be eligible for vacancies at other facilities across the state.”

Smith added that other corrective action is challenged by current budget constraints. “IDOC has limited resources and is working with antiquated systems. It’s a challenge to keep up with increasing requirements and a decreasing staff.”

"We built too many prisons"

By Patrick O'Brien
A controversial plan to shut down part of the Stateville prison in Joliet became just a bit more contentious after a packed meeting at the Statehouse Wednesday.

Department of Corrections Director Roger Walker told a House committee that the reclassification and transfer of more than 1,000 maximum security prisoners and the relocation of hundreds of employees was being done partly to justify the state’s $140 million new prison in Thomson.

Walker said that he inherited the newly built prison when he took over the agency and he “had to use it.” The statement caused more than a little discontent from the hundred-plus group of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees members who witnessed the testimony. The union is fighting the plan, saying it will cause disruptions for workers’ families and for inmates, leading to more dangerous inmates.

The facility in Thomson was completed in 2001 and remains empty, and the Illinois Department of Corrections plans to transfer 200 inmates from Stateville to open the new facility. Prison workers would also be moving with the inmates, but there will be room for far fewer workers at Thomson than would be dislocated by the plan.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich said the closing of Stateville’s maximum security wing would help the Department of Corrections save $31 million in operating costs by using the newer facility in Thomson.

Stateville was built in 1925, and the state estimated it would cost $108 million to renovate the prison.

Henry Bayer, executive director of the AFSCME council that represents the Stateville employees, said the plan is dangerous because it also transfers maximum-security inmates to crowded prisons in Menard in Randolph County and near Sumner in Lawrence County. The union also accused the agency of reclassifying violent inmates to lower security levels to make it easier to transfer the prisoners to less secure facilities in the state.

Bayer also says the state inflated the amount of money it would take to renovate Stateville to make it easier to shut down a portion of the prison.

Walker said the prison is outdated and that the budget savings will help pay for 765 new positions in the understaffed agency. Bayer said the lack of staff forced correctional workers to log 700,000 hours of mandatory overtime in fiscal year 2007, which he said cost the state $24 million.

Hastert, Con-Con and prison

A powerful lobbyist
By Patrick O’Brien
The task of getting a capital bill passed in Illinois just got a powerful new ally Wednesday. Gov. Rod Blagojevich enlisted former speaker of the U.S. House Dennis Hastert, a Republican, to co-chair a bipartisan group to help pass the governor’s Illinois Works program.

The other co-chair is Southern Illinois University President and former gubernatorial Democratic candidate Glenn Poshard. Poshard and Hastert provide a geographical and political balance to the group, which includes a diverse group of union leaders and several presidents of chambers of commerce.

The strange political bedfellows on the committee highlight the breadth of support for a statewide plan that would fix crumbling bridges, schools and other infrastructure and presumably stabilize a troubled state economy.

The governor’s plan would lease a portion of the Illinois Lottery to fund 65 percent of the $25 billion program, while the other 35 percent would come from bond sales. The reliance on lottery funds has some worried the plan will fail, just as previous attempts to use gambling expansion to fund a capital bill also stalled.

House Minority Leader Tom Cross said he’s concerned about the partial lottery sale as a funding source, saying House Republicans are open to other ideas for financing the program. “No one is going to be open to an idea that takes away $700 million from a budget that’s there for general revenue and education. A [budget] hole like that makes it hard to consider.”

Cross also said gambling expansion is a possible funding idea for an infrastructure plan. He recently asked House Speaker Michael Madigan for a meeting of the full chamber to discuss the idea.

Hastert was in Springfield today to be honored with a resolution by the House for his six years of service in the state legislature and eight years as U.S. speaker, the longest term for a Republican in the post.

Con-Con considerations
By Bethany Jaeger
A few blocks north of the Capitol, Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn and former state comptroller and lawmaker Dawn Clark Netsch debated whether Illinois voters should call for a constitutional convention, which would allow delegates to rewrite the state charter. The question will be on the November 2008 ballot because, by law, the question has to be posed to voters every 20 years. The last convention was in 1969-1970. (See background in our November and December Illinois Issues magazine.)

Netsch warns against another Con-Con right now for two primary reasons (among others):

1. Leadership, or lack thereof: "We don’t have constitutional crisis in the state of Illinois. We have a leadership crisis,” she said, adding: "There are no constitutional barriers to resolving the issues that have been plaguing us for the last couple of years. The only thing that is missing is the kind of leadership that brings those issues finally to bear.”
   
2. Preparation, or lack thereof: The state has done nothing other than approve a non-binding resolution to prepare and educate voters for the decision (see our June 2007 blog for more). She described a two-year effort by a 50-member committee in preparation for the ballot question in 1988. Nine public hearings across the state and a series of research papers all contributed to discussion beforehand. There's nothing like that this year so far.

Quinn supports the call for a Con-Con to address what he considers inadequate and unfair systems for school funding, a flat state income tax rate and government ethics. “The whole idea of a constitutional convention is to make the voters stronger.”

He said one of the provisions that would do just that would be to allow voters to recall elected public officials. Netsch agreed that the only way a recall provision would be added to the state Constitution is through a convention, considering lawmakers are unlikely to approve a measure by themselves.

Ironically Quinn helped draft recall legislation, which happened to received unanimous approval from a House committee later that afternoon. Sponsored by Democratic Rep. Jack Franks of Woodstock, it would amend the state Constitution to allow a recall similar to California’s provision. See a 2006 analysis of recall provisions in other states from the National Conference of State Legislatures.

We wrote about Franks' measure last November. He said it sets a high threshold to avoid rash, politically charged removal attempts. Even if the state Constitution were amended to include a recall provision, he said they would be rare.

Prison closing timeline
Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s administration proposed closing Stateville Correctional Center in Joliet as a way to save money. (See the Associated Press story here.) Closing a Vandalia prison sparked a session-long revolt a few years ago, and the prison stayed open. This one is bound to be controversial, too, given that the powerful American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees represents the 400 jobs that would be transferred to other prisons.

The Illinois Department of Corrections announced the Stateville plans at a Senate committee hearing last week, but the Illinois legislative Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability could slow those plans per state law. (Lee Enterprises’ reporter Kurt Erickson wrote about it here.)

In a meeting Wednesday, the commission’s executive director, Dan Long, said he sent a letter to the corrections department spelling out the timeline for public hearings and a recommendation for how to proceed with closing of the prison under the state facilities’ closure act. The department said it doesn’t think the act applies because it would only close a portion, not all, of the prison. The bottom line is that if the act does apply to the partial closing of Stateville, then the clock started at the February 28 Senate committee. Public hearings would have to be held between April and June, and the commission would have to offer a non-binding recommendation to the department by the end of June.

Long said this is uncharted territory. If state lawmakers continue to disagree with the department over whether the Stateville idea falls under the state facilities’ closure act, Long said, “I’d venture to guess it’d be another lawsuit.”