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City auditor says two‑year recommendations are being tracked; firefighter vacation and police overtime items remain open
Summary
The City Services Auditor reported quarterly follow‑up work closing 110 of 170 recommendations (65%) but said two payroll recommendations affecting the Fire Department remain open pending union meet‑and‑confer; police overtime policy changes are in progress and a new order is being drafted.
The City Services Auditor told a Board of Supervisors committee that the office has stepped up follow‑up on audit recommendations and is tracking implementation across departments.
"The benefit of our work is not just in the findings and the recommendations, but really in the actual implementation of those recommendations," said Tanya letters you, director of city audits in the comptroller’s office, describing regular six‑month follow‑ups and occasional field attestations for high‑risk items. She said the office completed 32 follow‑ups over the last two quarters covering 170 open or contested recommendations; departments closed 110 of those, or about 65 percent, while 60 remain open.
Letters you highlighted several recent recoveries and closures: Recreation and Parks corrected payroll controls and recovered roughly $3,000; a port concession audit resulted in nearly $77,000 recovered in unpaid rent for 2008–2012. She also said SFMTA has improved training capacity for transit operators but still has four open recommendations related to staffing and training effectiveness.
Two remaining items from a fire department payroll audit — both related to how vacation accruals and retirement payouts are calculated for suppression employees — cannot be implemented unilaterally, the Department of Human Resources told the committee. "For decades a day has been considered 12 hours for suppression employees," said Martin Grama, employee relations director at the Department of Human Resources, noting that prior meet‑and‑confer sessions with Local 798 and MEA did not produce agreement. Grama said DHR is meeting and conferring on multiple staffing and ambulance issues and expects further negotiation sessions within about six to eight weeks but could not promise a particular outcome.
On the Police Department recommendation to require 90‑day anticipatory overtime schedules for officers who exceed overtime limits, a police department representative said the department has implemented system changes through "Emerge" and is circulating a new department order for concurrence "in the next week," with a possibility of resolving the issue before year‑end.
Supervisors pressed the auditor and departments for more specific closure timelines for outstanding items, including issues at PUC and the Arts Commission. Letters you agreed to provide more detailed, item‑level timelines offline and in advance of the next committee meeting.
Public commenters urged the committee to ensure departments meet announced timelines. Supervisor Tang made a motion to continue the hearing "to the call of the chair," and the chair continued the item without objection.
The auditor said a full list of follow‑up summaries and status details are available on the controller's website. The committee did not adopt new policy today; follow‑up reporting and negotiated outcomes on the fire and police items are expected to return to the committee or be provided to supervisors as described.
