The Baltimore Office of the Register of Wills overpaid two part-time workers at least $8,300 in recent years, according to a state audit.
The office, which oversees estates when the owners die and collects inheritance taxes and fees, has long employed two custodians to clean the offices and remove trash, tasks that are supposed to take a maximum of three hours a day, the Department of Legislative Services audit said.
But the unnamed employees were frequently paid for an eight-hour shift, the audit said. The office detailed the overpayments from July 2013 until July 2014. But it could not provide time sheets from Dec. 12, 2012, through July 9, 2013, so it's unclear whether the workers were paid appropriately during that time, said the audit, which was made public last week.
It's not the first time state auditors have brought the issue to the city's attention. When a 2012 audit noted similar overpayments to the same employees, the office reclassified them as part-time but continued overpaying them, "because of a misunderstanding in how time was to be recorded for these part-time employees," the most recent audit said.
Register of Wills Belinda K. Conaway said in a response to the audit that the issues date to previous administrations and that her office has reviewed the overpayments and plans to collect the excess money when it determines how much was paid.
She pledged to ensure that all employees keep time sheets recording their hours and that "all time sheets are reviewed by the supervisor and Chief Deputy."
The city's wills office collects more than $4.6 million in inheritance taxes and fees annually. Its operating budget is about $2.9 million.
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