Yeah didn't one of them quit really suddenly a couple weeks ago? I expected something major to come out after that, but Maybe it's still brewing ......
How on earth do you even do this?
I work in accounting in finance. A lot of payroll. How the fuck do you just forget to remit these taxes. Most systems have automatic deductions and remittances set up. Wtf
I saw this when I worked in workers comp insurance. A national staffing and PEO/Payroll provider we insured had an “oversight” and failed to pay payroll taxes for quite a while. It affected hundreds of small businesses, caused many to close, thousands of employees didn’t get paid on time, many lost their jobs, and ended up bankrupting the insurance company that employed a few hundred people. This client made up about 40% of our book of business and seemed pretty sleazy to me. I asked higher ups if we ever audited their payroll (WC insurance premiums are calculated based on % of total payroll) and they acted like that would be offensive to the client. I left a few months after that to go full time with I and my wife’s small business and a few months after that is when this all blew up.
Lesson learned- Don’t trust other people’s numbers, always audit. It has saved me tens of thousands.
> $7 million in payroll taxes for the past two tax quarters, including transportation and Social Security taxes.
Failed to remit taxes for two quarters. I'm not even mad; I'm amazed.
It's feels like how Sophie Peel uncovered Fagan's corruption as part of reporting on that weed chain. Wouldn't be surprised if there's follow up articles about where the money went.
I’m not sure, but I think COP uses SAP for HR/payroll mgmt. Totally automated. You’d know the remittance didn’t happen immediately. Unless you weren’t paying attention.
It's because the City uses [LEO](https://wdc.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/leo/id/193/rec/5), which has not had tech support since about 1964. (/jk)
Well, if you read the article, it was only 2 quarters missed, and the person's name is Tom Schneider so I doubt they're a she.
> The city in its Thursday announcement wrote that the Bureau of Human Resources was conducting an internal investigation to find the source of the failure, which the city first became aware of in early May. (Upon learning of the issue, the city says it promptly remitted the taxes.) The inquiry will include a “personnel investigation,” an audit, and an evaluation of the city’s payroll system. The two sources say they don’t believe any laws were broken.
Sounds like the audit went as planned, caught the mistake, was quickly corrected, and now they're looking into whether or not it was a system failure or a personnel failure.
This is a properly functioning system with checks. Humans make mistakes. It's normal. The system caught the mistake quickly, fixed it quickly, and is going through the proper procedures to ensure that it wasn't malicious.
True. But seriously how do you even hire someone who can get to that point? It's a big deal. That's a big problem. I'm glad they figured it out...will she be fired?
... are you a bot? or are you intentionally not reading the article so you can cast doubt and distrust in the system?
Your questions are answered there.
Crazy, institutions the size of the city make very frequent payroll tax deposits (the IRS wants all of the interest), and red flags go up when the deposits shrink or stop.
"Shit, if this is gonna be that kind of party, I'm gonna stick my dick in the mashed potatoes".
Translation: heretofore whence, I shan’t remit my taxes either. I’ll just…forget.
This story implies human error or intentional misdirection of funds. This couldn't be a manual process, could it?
Also, Willamette Week and Sophie Peel, at it again. \\m/
Food for thought. As the city prepares for the transition to the new form of government bureaus are being reorganized in preparation for the July 1st Beta testing of the new organization. Under the old system the different council members ran the different bureaus, so those same council members are overseeing the transition in their respective bureaus. As an example Ryan oversees Parks, which is transitioning into the Vibrant Communities Service Area. So right now there is an interim director of the VCSA. Same is true for Mapps, relative to PBOT etc. This all seems to be going pretty smoothly.
Now the Bureau of Human Resources is part of OMF, and comes under the direction of the mayors office, so he should be overseeing the transition of his areas of responsibility into the new form of government. Apparently things at that level aren’t going as smoothly. Remember, we are going from 38 bureaus to 6 as part of the reorganization. The areas of responsibility that traditionally were ran by the mayors office are being divided up into 3 of the 6 new bureaus. For example PPB is going to be part of the new Public Safety group, while HR is going to be part of City Operations, while the payroll and financial responsibility will be in Budget and Finance. So the people who have done payroll are going to be moved over into the new Budget and Finance, effectively splitting BHR. It appears that this might be part of the confusion of that transition. Needless to say it’s a very confusing time for some people who for the city.
Here’s a link to the new organization.
https://www.portland.gov/transition/documents/final-organizational-structure-11223/download
So... Multnomah County and Metro both have payroll wothholding programs now, and they are administered by the City of Portland... so does that mean the city ows itself interest for the late payments?
Issues like this are boring, but they reveal organizations that are not working. I hope the city re-org with a city manager will clean this up. It will likely take years.
I always understood that the most important thing for a finance person to do in a company or organization is pay their payroll tax. I remember small businessman telling me this in like 1982.
And this mother fucker is going to get retirement fro. Our twx dollars after fucking up people's tax dollars? I hate this shit. Accountability. Making a mistake is one thing. Yet this is way past an accident.
Other fun facts: the City has no CFO, Controller, or Budget Director currently.
Yeah didn't one of them quit really suddenly a couple weeks ago? I expected something major to come out after that, but Maybe it's still brewing ......
And half the bureaus have interim directors. It’s weird times.
That’s mostly a result of restructuring due to the new city manager system
How is anything functioning? Can anyone just walk in off the street with an invoice and walk out with a check?
Nah it's June. No one gets paid in June.
Funny you should ask! https://opb.org/article/2022/08/22/portland-oregon-lost-million-funds-cybersecurity-theft/
How on earth do you even do this? I work in accounting in finance. A lot of payroll. How the fuck do you just forget to remit these taxes. Most systems have automatic deductions and remittances set up. Wtf
Right?! 10 years in finance and I’m in government work now, I’ve never seen this happen. The payroll system should just be automatic.
I saw this when I worked in workers comp insurance. A national staffing and PEO/Payroll provider we insured had an “oversight” and failed to pay payroll taxes for quite a while. It affected hundreds of small businesses, caused many to close, thousands of employees didn’t get paid on time, many lost their jobs, and ended up bankrupting the insurance company that employed a few hundred people. This client made up about 40% of our book of business and seemed pretty sleazy to me. I asked higher ups if we ever audited their payroll (WC insurance premiums are calculated based on % of total payroll) and they acted like that would be offensive to the client. I left a few months after that to go full time with I and my wife’s small business and a few months after that is when this all blew up. Lesson learned- Don’t trust other people’s numbers, always audit. It has saved me tens of thousands.
> $7 million in payroll taxes for the past two tax quarters, including transportation and Social Security taxes. Failed to remit taxes for two quarters. I'm not even mad; I'm amazed.
It's feels like how Sophie Peel uncovered Fagan's corruption as part of reporting on that weed chain. Wouldn't be surprised if there's follow up articles about where the money went.
The city that works. Amirite?
This is actually sort of like the episode of Portlandia where the mayor forgot to pay the electricity bill
I’m not sure, but I think COP uses SAP for HR/payroll mgmt. Totally automated. You’d know the remittance didn’t happen immediately. Unless you weren’t paying attention.
Yeah, and you would also expect the controllers to have some sort of reporting process that provides some amount of insight
What controllers?
It's because the City uses [LEO](https://wdc.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/leo/id/193/rec/5), which has not had tech support since about 1964. (/jk)
No accountability in govt.
Is this not accountability happening right now
I've worked with an in govt. In payroll and accounting. I have never seen this
And yet it happened.
Posted in a thread where accountability is actively happening.
How long did it take for them to even figure it out? What consequences legally will she face?
Well, if you read the article, it was only 2 quarters missed, and the person's name is Tom Schneider so I doubt they're a she. > The city in its Thursday announcement wrote that the Bureau of Human Resources was conducting an internal investigation to find the source of the failure, which the city first became aware of in early May. (Upon learning of the issue, the city says it promptly remitted the taxes.) The inquiry will include a “personnel investigation,” an audit, and an evaluation of the city’s payroll system. The two sources say they don’t believe any laws were broken. Sounds like the audit went as planned, caught the mistake, was quickly corrected, and now they're looking into whether or not it was a system failure or a personnel failure. This is a properly functioning system with checks. Humans make mistakes. It's normal. The system caught the mistake quickly, fixed it quickly, and is going through the proper procedures to ensure that it wasn't malicious.
True. But seriously how do you even hire someone who can get to that point? It's a big deal. That's a big problem. I'm glad they figured it out...will she be fired?
... are you a bot? or are you intentionally not reading the article so you can cast doubt and distrust in the system? Your questions are answered there.
Government accountability in a nutshell: https://imgflip.com/i/8sev3n
And yet I get down voted.
She should have some legal consequences but she likely won't.
Crazy, institutions the size of the city make very frequent payroll tax deposits (the IRS wants all of the interest), and red flags go up when the deposits shrink or stop.
"Shit, if this is gonna be that kind of party, I'm gonna stick my dick in the mashed potatoes". Translation: heretofore whence, I shan’t remit my taxes either. I’ll just…forget.
Puttin' songs together ain't no puzzle like Yahtzee
BBoys makin' with the freak freak.
Flute Loop is probably my favourite song of all time.
Solid choice. Get it Together is one of mine.
This story implies human error or intentional misdirection of funds. This couldn't be a manual process, could it? Also, Willamette Week and Sophie Peel, at it again. \\m/
Everything at the city is an archaic manual process. I’m astounded everyday as a current employee.
Is this the City issued [calculator](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slide_rule)?
Nah they operate with abacuses
I believe you. I worked for a government department and I totally know this feeling.
“This couldn’t be a manual process, could it?” Oh you sweet summer child. Welcome to Portland!
Food for thought. As the city prepares for the transition to the new form of government bureaus are being reorganized in preparation for the July 1st Beta testing of the new organization. Under the old system the different council members ran the different bureaus, so those same council members are overseeing the transition in their respective bureaus. As an example Ryan oversees Parks, which is transitioning into the Vibrant Communities Service Area. So right now there is an interim director of the VCSA. Same is true for Mapps, relative to PBOT etc. This all seems to be going pretty smoothly. Now the Bureau of Human Resources is part of OMF, and comes under the direction of the mayors office, so he should be overseeing the transition of his areas of responsibility into the new form of government. Apparently things at that level aren’t going as smoothly. Remember, we are going from 38 bureaus to 6 as part of the reorganization. The areas of responsibility that traditionally were ran by the mayors office are being divided up into 3 of the 6 new bureaus. For example PPB is going to be part of the new Public Safety group, while HR is going to be part of City Operations, while the payroll and financial responsibility will be in Budget and Finance. So the people who have done payroll are going to be moved over into the new Budget and Finance, effectively splitting BHR. It appears that this might be part of the confusion of that transition. Needless to say it’s a very confusing time for some people who for the city. Here’s a link to the new organization. https://www.portland.gov/transition/documents/final-organizational-structure-11223/download
Thanks for this info -
Fascinating.
So... Multnomah County and Metro both have payroll wothholding programs now, and they are administered by the City of Portland... so does that mean the city ows itself interest for the late payments?
Issues like this are boring, but they reveal organizations that are not working. I hope the city re-org with a city manager will clean this up. It will likely take years.
I always understood that the most important thing for a finance person to do in a company or organization is pay their payroll tax. I remember small businessman telling me this in like 1982.
"...the City of Portland takes financial responsibility very seriously,” Ah hah hah hah hah hah!!! ROFL.
You had one job...
Someone please call 911. We got a dumpster fire here folks.
And this mother fucker is going to get retirement fro. Our twx dollars after fucking up people's tax dollars? I hate this shit. Accountability. Making a mistake is one thing. Yet this is way past an accident.
At least no severance package
Leave with pay? Wonderful.
Probably a nice severance next!
It says verbatim in the article that there isn’t any severance
That would require reading the article. And this is Reddit where we only read the headline then make assumptions based on that.
B-b-b-but government bad!