Audits

The state social services agency Wednesday was moving to shut down nine homes used for child day care and foster care after an audit found registered sex offenders in them in violation of state law. The revelation came after state auditors compared the addresses of 75,000 licensed facilities, including foster family homes and in-home day-care centers, with the state's database of registered sex offenders.

Concerned about the spiraling cost of overtime in the Orange County Sheriff's Department, Supervisor John Moorlach has asked a county auditor to study whether the department should hire more deputies instead of paying them tens of millions of dollars in overtime. The Times reported Wednesday that the department's overtime expenses have soared during the last few years, with two-thirds of the 1,700 sworn deputies now making more than $100,000 annually. "We have to take a hard look at whether this overtime is justified," Moorlach said.

An audit released Thursday found no indication that Los Angeles airports director Gina Marie Lindsey improperly influenced the awarding of two major contracts related to the modernization of LAX. The Los Angeles city controller's office concluded that airport staff followed correct procedures during the selection of DMJM Aviation Inc. of Florida and Denver-based Fentress Architects. The findings were similar to those of the City Council, which reviewed the contracts earlier this month.

Federal officials announced Friday that they would assess the air traffic control staffing levels and their effects on safety at Los Angeles International Airport and two other key locations in California. The action comes at the request of Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who contends that the nation's control towers may be understaffed. In addition to LAX, the Inspector General's Office of the U.S.

The city lacks an overall strategic plan to respond to an emergency such as an earthquake, fire or other calamity, according to an audit released Monday by City Controller Laura Chick The audit said that 16 of the city's 26 emergency preparedness plans have not been updated for at least three years and that one, within the Fire Department, has not been updated since 1992. "This report says, don't panic. We're doing some of the right things, but we could be doing so much more," Chick said.

Companies collected millions of dollars in government contracts by claiming to have main offices in poor neighborhoods that were actually empty duplexes, part-time offices and other ineligible locations, the Government Accountability Office reported. Billions remain at risk because the Small Business Administration doesn't usually check paperwork, rarely conducts audits and is slow to eject firms that are no longer eligible for the $8 billion in special contract set-asides for small businesses, the GAO said.

Despite an ongoing audit of overtime spending within the Orange County Sheriff's Department, deputies continue to work exorbitant amounts of overtime and county and department officials remain concerned about employee burnout. The Times reported in May that two-thirds of Orange County deputies -- boosted by thousands of dollars in overtime pay -- earned more than $100,000 in 2007.

Like others classified by the Los Angeles County bureaucracy as a temporary student worker, Patricia Lopez, 51, was not temporary and not a student. For two decades she has answered phones in county health clinics, a job she took initially to get off welfare. Today, Lopez works about 39 hours a week and takes home little more than $1,000 a month.

Federal authorities are questioning whether the agency that manages Los Angeles International Airport has illegally provided more than $40 million in revenue since 2002 to L.A. Inc., the city's convention and visitors bureau. The Federal Aviation Administration, which began a routine audit of airport expenditures in July, has tentatively concluded that Los Angeles World Airports allocated the money in apparent violation of federal laws that restrict how airport revenue can be spent. L.A. Inc.

Overtime pay in the Orange County Sheriff's Department has skyrocketed in recent years because the department lacks a comprehensive policy or effective controls on the extra pay, according to an audit released Wednesday. Overtime in the department totaled nearly $48 million in the last fiscal year, more than double its level eight years ago, the report by the county's performance audit director found.