Texas taxpayers will keep paying salaries for workers who don't deserve them

And now it’s time for Spotlight on Sloppy Bureaucrats who Cost You Money.
The Department of Public Safety, the Texas Youth Commission and the Texas Department of Criminal Justice goofed on correctly classifying employees more half the time — mistakes that will cost taxpayers nearly $300,000 in additional salaries.

The irritating part: Employees who mistakenly got a bump in pay won’t see their slice of the bacon decrease, according to a report by the state auditor’s office. The report says 38.8 percent of positions were classified in a higher minimum salary group.
Biggest failure: the criminal justice department, which will increase salaries for 138 employees at an additional cost of $252,733, according to a review by the state auditor.

Agency	Positions reviewed	Number misclassified	Percent wrong	Salary changes	Annual cost
DPS	193	68	32.2	5	$   16,952.37
TYC	110	60	54.5	17	$   22,762.44
TDCJ	566	323	57.1	138	$ 252,733.16
Totals	869	451	51.9	160	$ 292,447.97

Of the total 451 misclassified positions reviewed, 444 (98.4 percent) were a result of agencies not using a more appropriate and “occupationally specific” job classification for those positions.
Salary increases ranged from $133 to $8,484 annually, with an average annual increase of $1,828 per employee, the report(pdf) says.
In other words, everybody either keeps money they shouldn’t have or gets more money.
In the era of private sector pay reductions, Watchdog wishes it worked for such a generous employer.

-- Darren Barbee