County workers again find paycheck errors

Monroe County will likely pay about $30,000 for assistance from an outside accounting firm, following errors in employee paychecks for the third consecutive pay period. \nThe mistakes were discovered Friday, after a software glitch in the county's computer systems overrode some human calculations, causing some government employees to receive incorrect paychecks, said Iris Kiesling, president of the Monroe County Commissioners.\nOn Friday some of the employees stood outside a county commissioner's meeting, complaining that their paychecks again showed incorrect amounts, Kiesling said. She said she didn't know how many of the about 500 county employees have been affected by the errors, but she said everyone from entry-level employees all the way up to judges could have been affected by the mistake.\nThe process of correcting flawed paychecks is still underway, but the errors in payment ranged anywhere from a "couple of dollars" to more than $50, she said.\n"I think we are all disappointed, frankly," Kiesling said.\nSuch errors should not have occurred, she said, but these types of mistakes could be attributed to the high turnover rates of county employees, she said.\n"When you have a lot of turnover, that is one of the things that can happen," she said.\nShe said she did not think this type of situation could be linked with fraudulent activity.\nNow, Monroe County will likely contract BKD, one of the nation's largest accounting firms, to help fight some of the ongoing problems.\nThe firm's Bloomington office "maintains an extensive team of technology consultants," according to its Web site.\nAlthough BKD might help solve some of the county's payment problems, the question of who to blame for the current flawed payments remains. Kiesling said she was unsure whether someone involved in this situation deserved blame or if the mistakes occurred because of unexplainable circumstances.\nKiesling said Monroe County is still examining what checks might have been in place that could have prevented the mistakes, but she said her office was working hard to make sure they did not happen again.