S.L. County studying its tuition controversy

With calls coming in and employees worried, Salt Lake County personnel director Felix McGowan is trying to "clarify the situation" with regard to the county's tuition reimbursement controversy.

In a memo that McGowan sent to personnel staffers Tuesday, he states that, while he agrees with the overall conclusions of the recent county audit — which found sloppiness and possible abuses of the program, administered primarily by the personnel office — there were "many inaccuracies and omissions in the newspaper articles" reporting the matter.

For one thing, while County Mayor Peter Corroon has called for an investigation into the matter, McGowan maintains that investigations already have been and are being conducted.

"Some of these (reports that employees were not reporting other financial assistance for the same classes the county was reimbursing them for) had already come to light and were resolved — through discipline or termination — and several more are currently being investigated" by the district attorney's office.

What's more, he adds, the personnel office is not at fault for those, nor does it have the capacity to go beyond what employees tell it.

"Verifying the accuracy of employees' declaration of financial assistance has never been part of our procedure and was not part of the tuition program audit," McGowan wrote. "That review rightly belongs to the DA (district attorney) and in no way reflects on our office."

McGowan also wrote that no specific shortage amount in the program has been identified (one article reported $100,000 short). He also disputed the contention that "hundreds" of employees have dropped or failed courses for which the county paid and then took years to repay the money.

Yes, hundreds did drop or fail the courses, but only three employees took longer than one year to repay the money, McGowan said. (The one-year mark is the agreed-upon time for employees to pay the money back.)

He conceded, however, that that figure does not take into account employees who have quit the county and haven't paid back tuition assistance. Since 2001, 20 such cases have been turned over to the district attorney for collection.

"The audit did find some errors," McGowan stated, "(which is) not surprising considering the large number of applications processed."

One thing that has garnered media attention has been employees who were paid twice for the same classes. That happened only twice, McGowan said, and "in both cases the funds were recovered."