Dallas council examines potential changes to timekeeping system

Dallas City Council members pressed for answers Monday after a FOX4 report revealed city employees taking time off and not reporting those days.

“I found it very disturbing. It really shows time is the easiest thing to steal here at the City of Dallas," councilman Scott Griggs said.

Auditors found four high-level city employees did not report taking any time off even though they did.

According to the audit, the city will never know how much it lost because the city's time keeping system was that bad. Auditors put the figure as high as $60 million potentially gone.

Griggs compared the city's time keeping methods to putting money in a drawer and never again counting it.

“The basic function of time keeping software is are you there or not there,” Griggs said. “This software we spent a small fortune on, wasn't keeping track of that."

Council member Philip Kingston called the city manager out for trying to downplay what the audit found.

The city manager, who was not at the committee meeting where the audit was discussed on Monday, said that auditor did not find any improper use of city's funds.

"I find this statement from the city manager terribly misleading,” Kingston said. “Without proper controls you can't tell if there was misspending."

The city's time keeping software runs taxpayers more than $400,000 a year and has been used for more than a decade.

Some councilmembers said the city should consider getting a different system that makes it easier to keep track of employees time.