Important Lessons From Sacramento’s Cellphone Waste Report

Are local government workers making the most out of expensive wireless devices they’re issued to carry out official duties? Are they downloading unnecessary apps, using too much data or spending too much time using public resources for personal matters? Are there effective agency guidelines in place that lay out what’s appropriate use? Are inventory procedures producing accurate records and keeping track of devices?

These are important questions for any local government IT manager. 

In California’s capital city, a recent report by Sacramento Auditor Jose Oseguera into employee use of city-issued cellphones and wireless devices found that the city paid for nearly $300,000 in unnecessary usage.  

Sacramento City Council members OK’d new rules this week to better manage cellphone and wireless devices issued to city workers after the auditor’s report, released last month, found that the city’s wireless device policies are “insufficient” and inventory records are “incomplete and inconsistent.”

“It seems like every time you come to us with a report, you’re saving the city money,” City Council member Allen Wayne Warren said from the dais, according to KCRA-TV. The city’s chief information officer told the television station that many of the report’s recommendations are already in place.

Paging through the auditor’s report, there are some interesting takeaways from the situation in Sacramento that other local governments could learn from:

• Most of the $163,000 in overage charges incurred by Sacramento city workers in 2013 were offset by $158,000 in “voice pooling credits,” so the city’s usage plans are “adequately matched to avoid most overage charges.” But Sacramento city employees’ “current use may not be necessary and therefore, some plan modifications may yield lower costs or further reduce overage charges.”

• The report found that the city has zero-usage devices and other devices that “appeared to be significantly underutilized . . . Better management of the City’s devices could save the City an estimated $284,000.”

• The two departments with the highest cellphone usage in 2013 were Fire and Parks and Recreation: “[A] Parks and Recreation Department cell phone user had more than 10,000 voice minutes in one month and most of the individual’s calls in 2013 were out‐of‐state. Another Fire Department individual used more than a quarter of his 2013 voice minutes for conversations with one phone number we identified as belonging to his wife.”

• More than $2,000 was spent on app downloads and subscriptions. The report’s recommendation was for IT managers to activate parental controls on city-issued smartphones to prevent employees from making such downloads.

• Some employees who already have a technology allowance for their personal cellphones were also issued a work cellphone, which cost the city $5,600.

• The city does not request quarterly optimization reports from vendors to help find ways to minimize costs. According to the report, “[a]s a result of our inquiry, the City requested the reports as of February 2014. The suggested changes to the plans may save the City nearly $52,000 annually."

• There’s no central inventory database for the city’s wireless devices. Ineffective inventory procedures also led to wireless devices to being assigned to non-employees and former employees.

From the Findings section of the auditor’s report:

Improving how the City’s wireless device program is administered could potentially save the City $291,600 and decrease the risk of abuse.

Sound management requires active administration and continuous monitoring of internal controls. When oversight is designed and implemented appropriately, organizations are more likely to identify and correct internal control problems on a timely basis and produce more accurate and reliable information for use in decision‐making. Our audit of the City’s wireless communication devices found inadequate administrative practices which allowed for questionable acts to go unchecked. Specifically, we found:

• Most overage charges were avoided in 2013;
• Some devices had high use that appeared to be personal;
• Over $2,000 was spent on app downloads and subscriptions;
• Ten employees inappropriately received both a technology allowance and City‐
• provided cell phone during 2013 at an additional cost to the City of $5,600;
• The City’s vendors are applying state and local taxes inconsistently;
• The City does not take advantage of quarterly optimization reports provided by
• vendors; and  
• The City could save $284,000 by better managing underutilized devices.

Wireless device policies are insufficient.

Up‐to‐date policies and procedures are important in an organization to provide employees guidance and establish accountability. We found the City did not have appropriate policies and procedures in place to provide direction on the issuance and use of wireless devices.

We found:

• Current policies and procedures are outdated;
• The Information Technology Department is not exercising their authority over the
• City’s wireless communication devices;
• Supervisory approval of most wireless devices and plans are unavailable; and
• Telecom liaison responsibilities are not clearly defined.

Inventory records are incomplete and inconsistent.

As many of the inventory issues were identified in the Office of the City Auditor’s Audit of City Inventory Systems, we performed a brief inventory review of the wireless communication devices. Specifically, we found the following:

• Inventory of wireless communication devices are not kept in a central database;
• Inventory of all devices are not kept;
• Some devices are not assigned to individuals; and
• Some devices are assigned to former employees.

(Image via Robert Kneschke/Shutterstock.com)