Airport Dept. Management Criticized

The Los Angeles controller’s office Friday complained about “weak” management practices at the Department of Airports after finding timekeeping errors in one unit and noting that 326 department employees overall got $4 million in overtime last year--more than $5,000 apiece.

Controller Rick Tuttle’s audit division reviewed timekeeping practices at the department’s Airport Operation Clearance Unit at Los Angeles International Airport in response to a complaint received by the city’s Ethics Commission. The unit, which employs 17 people, issues identification badges to vendors, leaseholders and department employees.

In their report released Friday, auditors said they found that during a four-month period in 1995, there were at least 89 discrepancies in timekeeping records at the unit and several of the unit’s employees were paid for a total of at least 39 hours of work while they were on leave.

The auditors said that although 13 of the unit’s employees worked a total of nearly 1,900 hours of overtime during an eight-month period in 1995, “the management of the unit could not clearly substantiate overtime work.”

“The failure of management to ensure adequate oversight demonstrates a lax atmosphere and creates an atmosphere that is conducive to abuse,” the audit team said.

In a letter Friday to John J. Driscoll, executive director of the Department of Airports, Tuttle said that “weak management control of overtime at the unit and a large amount of overtime expenses incurred by your department could be indicative of overall department practices which need better monitoring.”

The department has about 1,500 employees at LAX, Burbank, Van Nuys and Ontario airports.

Driscoll and other top managers at the agency could not be reached for comment Friday.

Diane Scully, a spokeswoman for the department, said the auditors’ report had been received, “and we plan to implement its recommendations.”

The audit team recommended that the department revise its timekeeping system, tighten its oversight procedures and alter payroll records “to correctly record the 39 hours of absences that were improperly reported as hours worked.”

The controller’s office did not disclose who made the complaint to the Ethics Commission.