K-12 Tax & Spending Climate: Auditors: Milwaukee County pension payment system riddled with errors

Don Behm::

While corrections of the majority of individual accounts highlighted in the audit’s findings will be less than $2 a month, the auditors found up to $400,000 in total overpayments to several others receiving disability benefits.

Auditors confirmed a separate $132,000 overpayment to a surviving family member of a deceased retiree that had been reported earlier by the Retirement Plan Services office.

Apart from reviewing 534 individuals in previously identified problem areas, auditors also checked a small random sample of 50 retirees. They found that 54% of those benefit calculations were “likely incorrect.” Overpayments to those individuals amounted to $2,800.

In a statement released Wednesday, the Pension Board said it will review the report and work with retirement services employees to correct the mistakes and determine why the errors were made.

The Pension Board said it is committed to working with the administration and the County Board to decide which overpayments should be pursued for collection.

Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele requested the audit and called for comprehensive reform of the pension system following disclosure of a 2014 report to the IRS of hundreds of pension errors that will cost the county nearly $2.2 million to correct. The report was not made public until it was released to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in response to a records request.