Auditor: Sacramento Wasting $300,000 On Cellphone Plans, Employees Abusing Phone Use

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — A new report obtained by CBS13 shows the city of Sacramento is wasting hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars on city-issued cellphones.

The report shows employees are abusing their work cellphones by downloading apps, buying music and spending hours on personal calls.

Not only were employees overusing their work cellphones, the city was paying a lot of money on unlimited plans for phones that just sat in a desk drawer.

Sacramento City Auditor Jorge Oseguera released the report detailing city employee cellphone abuse.

"The city hasn't really been actively monitoring or scrutinizing the call activity," he said.

One employee was getting daily horoscope texts on a city-issued phone, costing taxpayers $10 a month. Last year, city employees downloaded more than $2,000 worth of apps and music on their work cellphones.

The report also found employees using their work phones for personal calls. An employee in the parks and recreation department used 10,215 minutes in one month.

To put that in perspective, there are 10,080 minutes in a week. Somehow in one month, that employee talked on a city-issued phone for more than a week in one month.

And it's not just for cellphone overage issues. The report found the city is paying for more than 200 phones that get no use. That adds up to more than $50,000 a year.

In all, Oseguera says the city could save nearly $300,000 a year by cutting the fat on wasteful cellphone plans and cracking down on employees who want to know their future, all on the city's dime.

"It's enough money to pay for a position or two in whatever department you want to pick," he said.