A state audit of the Office of Worcester County Sheriff Lewis G. Evangelidis found “no significant instances of noncompliance.”
By Brad Petrishen – Telegram & Gazette Staff – March 11, 2019
WORCESTER – The Worcester County sheriff’s office on Monday was given a clean bill of health in a state audit of its overtime, expenses and contracting processes.
The audit, which examined records from July 1, 2016, to June 30, 2018, found “no significant instances of noncompliance” in those areas, staff for Auditor Suzanne M. Bump wrote.
According to the five-page document, auditors reviewed the office’s oversight of staff overtime, process for contracting goods and services and appropriateness of its non-payroll expenses.
The office, run by Sheriff Lewis G. Evangelidis, had 603 employees as of June 30, 2018, the auditor wrote, and an average of 918 inmates during the audit period.
The jail, which houses pretrial detainees and inmates who have been sentenced to 2½ years or less, paid out $6.28 million in overtime in 12,787 payments in the two-year period reviewed, auditors said.
The auditor reviewed 60 of the payments, totaling $60,912, by looking at roll-call and payroll logs as well as time sheets for supervisory overtime. No significant issues were identified.
The audit also reviewed about $8.3 million of the $25.1 million in contracts the office signed over the two years, as well as $429,385 of the office’s $26.2 million of non-payroll expenses.
The audit said the office “has an extensive inmate support network” that includes evening education classes, health education classes, job training and life skill programs, parent education and “other social and educational programs.”
The sheriff’s office spent $50.4 million in state funds in fiscal 2017 and $51.2 million in fiscal 2018, the auditor wrote.
Jail Superintendent David H. Tuttle Monday thanked the department’s employees.
“Sheriff Evangelidis in his nine years as sheriff has implemented a lot of change and a lot of new initiatives at the jail, and we’re proud of the work the staff does,” he said. “The professionalism they show from top to bottom shines through in this audit.”
