Between 2009 and 2013, Cell Phone Allowance Costs For City Employees Rose 46 Percent

 It appears that not only is Ann Arbor paying employees the total cost of their cell phone plans, but in some instances pays employees almost 2.5 times more than the monthly cost of popular cell phone/texting plans.

CELL PHONE COSTS paid for by Ann Arbor taxpayers have risen sharply since 2009.  The allowance money is paid out of the city’s General Fund which also pays for citizen services, including police and fire. Since 2009, the amount paid for Ann Arbor city staff cell phone allowances and texting/data packages more than doubled.

While the number of city managers receiving monthly auto allowances has been scaled back, spending on cell phone and texting allowances rose by $120,740 between 2011 and 2013. Monthly charges rose from $14,776 in 2011 to $19,864 in 2013. Between 2008 and 2013, Ann Arbor taxpayers have paid in excess of $1.56 million for city staff cell phone charges, cell phone allowances and text/data plans.

As wireless consumers know, cell phone and texting costs can add up. In response to a recent Freedom of Information Act request, records reveal that 170 of Ann Arbor’s 680 employees are given monthly cell phone allowances. While that’s down from 196 city employees who were being given cell phone allowances in 2013, cell phone allowances for many city staffers were raised considerably.

Unlike in past when cell phone allowance amounts paid to city staffers varied from $57 to $136 per month, cell phone and data package allowances for all of the city staff are now uniform: $110 per month. This means upper-level city managers saw their cell phone allowances decrease by about 19 percent. However, many others saw their monthly cell phone allowances  increase by 95 percent or more.

For example, between 2010- 2012 Ann Arbor’s Communications Unit Manager Lisa Wondrash received a $136 monthly cell phone allowance, an annual sum of $1,632. Beginning in 2013, Wondrash received a $57 monthly cell phone allowance and a $53 monthly cell phone data allowance, an annual sum of $1,320.

Conversely, city project manager Anne Warrow, received a monthly $57 cell phone allowance beginning in 2010. That’s an annual sum of $684. In 2013, Warrow received a $57 monthly cell phone allowance and a $53 monthly cell phone data allowance, an annual sum of $1,320.

The employees who receive the $110 cell/data allowances  include obvious ones who are on 24-hour call, such as City Administrator Steven Powers, and Assistant Fire Chief Taylor. However, Police Chief John Seto receives neither a cell phone nor a data package allowance.

In contrast to cell phones for emergency workers, Ann Arbor planning staff, human resources staff, housing commission staff and half of Ann Arbor’s city attorneys also receive $110 monthly cell/data phone allowances.

While public employee car allowances often make the news, in Ann Arbor the amount spent on cell/data allowances for city staff has cost taxpayers more than quadruple the amount spent on automobile allowance payments. Prior to 2012, many auto allowance payments were given to desk jockeys, such as the Ann Arbor’s CFO Tom Crawford, as well as the city’s former head of IT, Dan Rainey.

Between 2008 and 2013, Ann Arbor taxpayers paid $1.56 million for cell phone/texting allowances for city staff versus $393,500 for auto allowances. All of the city staff who receive monthly auto allowance payments also receive $110 per month cell phone/texting allowance payments.

Third Ward Council member  Stephen Kunselman is running for mayor. In 2013, in response to a piece posted to A2Politico.com on the subject of city employee perks, Kunselman commented on the subject of perks for city staff members in light of cuts to police, fire and other citizen services:

“I have been under the impression that these issues have been addressed where needed; if they haven’t then they will be if there is any impropriety.”

However, a search of the Council minutes back through 2008 revealed no resolutions by any City Council member related to the issue of staff perks such as meals out, stays at luxury resorts and spas, car allowances to staffers with desk jobs, or the cell phone allowances.

The fact is that there have been numerous improprieties. In 2006 and again in 2010 the city’s former auditor cited city CFO Tom Crawford’s department for lax control of city-issued credit cards (P-cards).

The auditor randomly sampled charges paid, and found that 25 percent of the time there was no documentation for the charges.

In 2013, the city’s new auditor again found that employee expenses were being reimbursed without documentation, and that city employees with car allowances were also being reimbursed for mileage (double-dipping). In a 2013 response letter, CFO Crawford assured auditors that “controls” had been put in place to end double-dipping.

However, several years earlier the city’s auditor had caught then City Administrator Roger Fraser misusing his city-issued credit card and charging the city for mileage while receiving a $400 monthly car allowance. In response to that incident, CFO Crawford also issued a letter in which he writes “controls” had been put in place.

Fifth Ward Council member Mike Anglin had this to say about the cell phone perk: “As Ann Arbor moves towards spending reductions, all items of the budget need to be examined as to their benefits. A guide in this direction would be a commitment to providing services to the taxpayers.”

Anglin went on to say, “Spending that does not meet this criterion needs to be examined and discussed through the Budget Committee, and City Council at large. As a member of the Budget Committee I will bring these issues before the City’s CFO so that other Council members can be aware of them and take needed actions. Savings to the Budget will allow for increase in services to the community.”

Anglin’s Ward 5 colleague responded differently. Chuck Warpehoski wrote in an email: “According to the City Administrator, the City does have a cell phone and pager policy. I believe that there are valid reasons for some City employees to have cell phones, and I believe that the Section Area Administrators are better positioned to evaluate a particular employee’s need for a cell phone than is Council.”

Ward 2 Council member Sally Hart Petersen is also running for mayor. She ran a 2012 campaign for office that stressed her business background, as well as her desire to stress fiscal responsibility. Council member Petersen thinks paying for cell phones and pagers “reasonable.”

She wrote in response to an email asking where she stands on the issue: “The city does have a 9-page policy regarding city-issued cell phones and pagers. Generally, employees who must be available 24/7, or those who must be away from their office to perform their jobs (such as Park and Rec employees) are issued phones or pagers. I assume that employees who must be available 24/7 include senior and middle management. This is reasonable to me.”

City Administrator Steve Powers commented via email, “In May of 2013, following a review of the City’s reimbursement rates and the changing cell phone market, the cell phone monthly stipend amount was set at $57.”

Powers neglected to point out that the texting/data allowance  boosts monthly cell phone/texting payments for many staffers to $110.

Powers also said that, “The monthly cell phone stipends for personal cell phones are not intended to reimburse the employee for 100 percent of their monthly cell phone plan, but only a portion of the cost.”

Verizon’s More Everything Plan allows unlimited calling and texting for $45 per month.  AT&T Mobile’s Unlimited Talk and Text plan for Smart Phones costs $70 per month. Not only is Ann Arbor paying employees the total cost of their cell phone plans, but in some instances employees may be receiving 2.5 times more than popular cell phone plans cost.

The city’s cell phone allowance policy focuses on staffers who are expected to be in touch 24/7.

This may be why Fifteenth District Court staff have raised questions about Judge Christopher Easthope has collected a cell phone allowance since his 2009 election. Judge Easthope is a former Ann Arbor City Council member.

Record show that Judge Easthope’s is among the top three largest cell phone allowance pay-outs. Since 2009, he has been paid $7,258 dollars. The administrator of the 15th District Court, Keith Zeisloft, has collected $7,392 in cell phone allowance money since 2009.

Judge Easthope’s colleagues on the bench, Judges Elizabeth Pollard Hines and Joseph Burke began receiving cell phone allowances in 2012, but as of 2013 neither were listed among 15th District Court officials receiving the perk. Judge Easthope, however, now the Chief Judge Pro Tempore, is listed as receiving a $110 monthly cell phone allowance.

While Ann Arbor taxpayers are on pace to pay for well over $2 million dollars in perks for city employees since 2009,  throughout the country pols are cutting staff perks. For instance, the day after Democratic Governor Jerry Brown took office in January 2011, he asked department heads to collect 96,000 state-provided cell phones.

A June 17, 2011 piece published in the Long Beach Post reports that, “The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors directed county department chiefs to review their respective cell phone and data card use following an audit of the Department of Child and Family Services identified $514,000 wasted on phones and devices that were never used or used for what was deemed ‘questionable’ purposes, such as calling other countries.”

Jim Fouts, Mayor of Warren, Michigan cut the cell phone allowances of all the 125 municipal city employees who had been receiving the money. Fouts also eliminated the monthly car allowances paid to city employees. Fouts told the Macomb Daily, “These are austere times, and sacrifices have to be made by everyone.”

In 2009, Washtenaw County Commissioner Kristin Judge turned in her county-provided cell phone and suggested that Washtenaw County could save $350,000 per year by cutting the cell phone perk.

Ann Arbor County Commissioner Conan Smith accused Judge of “grandstanding.” In an October 2009 interview with A2Politico.com Judge said, “In my opinion, the cell phone budget is one of the most obvious places to find immediate savings. As much as I dislike this statement, ‘Everything is on the table,’ I will continue to look at the entire budget line by line. Some people think commissioners should not look at each line of the budget, but I disagree. I have been accused of micromanaging because I want to see where all the money is going, but I will not vote on $1 unless I understand the purpose of the spending and what we get for that $1. The people of Washtenaw County expect and deserve that from their elected officials.”

Ward 2 Council member Jane Lumm, an Independent, was swept back into office in November 2013 with 58 percent of the vote. Supporters point to her fiscal responsibility and her efforts to increase funding for  citizen services.

When told of the amount being spent on cell phone allowances, texting, data and calling plans Lumm said, “Seriously? You’re joking, right? That’s ridiculous!”