Governor JB Pritzker’s and his Administration are facing renewed scrutiny over its handling of taxpayer dollars after a new state audit found that the Illinois Emergency Management Agency-Office of Homeland Security (IEMA-OHS) paid tens-of-millions of dollars to outside contractors for employees to be on standby and not actually work.
According to an August 11 report from the Illinois Auditor General, IEMA-OHS was billed $220.3 million by Kansas-based Favorite Healthcare Staffing during Fiscal Years 2022 and 2023. Of that total, $78.5 million was for nearly 470,000 hours of standby time where contractors were not working. This means that a third of this total cost went to pay employees to not even work. Digging deeper, auditors also found that 270 contract workers also billed the state exclusively for standby time, costing taxpayers $7.5 million, for no work performed.
The audit raised broader concerns about the Pritzker Administration’s oversight of the massive staffing contracts. IEMA-OHS could not provide documentation showing it had analyzed how many contract workers were actually needed, failed to adequately enforce contract requirements, and lacked sufficient procedures for reviewing invoices and verifying billing accuracy.
Senator Plummer says the audit is another troubling example of why Illinois taxpayers deserve greater accountability over how their money is being spent, particularly when the state is paying outside contractors tens-of-millions of dollars without adequate safeguards to ensure taxpayers are receiving what they paid for.
The Auditor General issued 10 recommendations aimed at improving staffing decisions, invoice verification, contract enforcement, and oversight of contractor hours and expenses.
Senator Plummer said the Auditor General’s recommendations are only a starting point, arguing that Governor Pritzker and his Administration need to take greater responsibility for how taxpayer dollars are managed. He noted that the money being spent so carelessly does not belong to state government, but comes directly from the hardworking families and businesses across Illinois who expect their tax dollars to be treated with accountability and respect.