The city of Riviera Beach spent $1,101,556 on health insurance for people who were no longer employed with the city.
Special Section: City in Turmoil
According to a memo sent by Finance Director Randy Sherman, 77 former employees continued to receive benefits. The billing oversight started in 2013 and ended in June 2017 after an audit revealed the mistake.
The issue was brought to the attention of former City Manager Jonathan Evans.
He put it on the agenda for city council to discuss, stating that “employees that are no longer employed by the City, and their respective dependents” were still receiving insurance benefits.
The issue was on the agenda on Sept. 20, the same night when Evans was suddenly and without explanation fired for alleged misfeasance. The decision to fire Evans has thrown the city into political turmoil.
According to Sherman’s memo, of the 77 former employees still receiving benefits, 51 ended their employment with the city, one of which had died while in city employment, 16 had retired and chosen not to extend their coverage into retirement, one employee was double billed and nine CRA employees were being paid for by the city.
Sherman said the city’s insurance company Aetna had returned $456,000 of that money to the city, leaving the remaining damage to the city at over $645,000.
“I don’t foresee being able to get that whole one million dollars back because it was the city’s fault,” City Councilwoman KaShamba Miller-Anderson said on Tuesday.
After Evans was fired, the item was never brought to the attention of city council.
City officials say there are safeguards in place now to make sure this won’t happen again.
Read the memo from the director of finance to the interim city manager below.