On The Money: State Employee Audit

A new state audit released today identifies hundreds of thousands of dollars in government waste, at a time when California is bleeding red ink.

Those tax dollars were misspent, misappropriated and in at least one case stolen by a state worker, according to the state audit.  The biggest offender in the report is the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, the state agency that runs the prisons.

State Auditor Elaine Howle told CBS 13 she found "significant amounts of wasted funds.  An investigation of an incompetent psychiatrist at the Department of Corrections took three years to conduct. At the same time this individual was getting paid $20 thousand dollars a month."

That one psychiatrist cost taxpayers more than $336,000 according to the State Auditor. She also blasted the California Conservation Corps for spending more than $84,000 in non-competitive bidding on a contract.  Howle also discovered the Department of General Services had racked up more than $12,000 in vehicle misuse.

"He was a manager at a state garage and using vehicles for his commute back and forth," Howle told CBS 13.

DGS is now pursuing reimbursement from the state worker, who has since retired.

The state auditor identified $750,000 in waste in just one report. In one case, a DMV worker stole $448 in registration fees – that employee was later convicted of theft. Most of the state agencies named in the report have taken corrective action.