Long Beach City Council Wants To Recoup Separation Payouts

LONG BEACH, NY — In a response to the state comptroller's audit of the city, the Long Beach City Council said it will try to recoup the separation payments that were made, and leveled much of the blame for the problem at former City Manager Jack Schnirman.

The response to the audit, which the City Council is voting on today, claims that the separation payments were made without the knowledge of the council by executive employees.

The city made hundreds of thousands of dollars in separation payments to employees that, under various contracts, the employees were not entitled to. Employees were being paid for all of their accrued sick time when, in most cases, they were eligible to be paid for only 30 percent.

One of the most public of these was a payment to former City Manager Jack Schnirman, who received more than $50,000 in separation payments he wasn't entitled to. Schnirman has since returned the money to the city.

According to the city's report, when Schnirman left the city at the end of 2017 to become Nassau County Comptroller, he was paid for 878 sick time hours, even though he should have only been paid for 216.

"In order to receive this separation payment, [Schnirman] disregarded protocols in a troubling manner," the city wrote in its audit response. "All Termination Pay Sheets must be signed by the Employee, Department Head, City Comptroller, and City Manager. He did not sign his Termination

Pay Sheet, a signature that certifies the calculations are correct. Additionally, it is unclear who signed final approval for [Schnirman]’s Termination Pay Sheets. The Acting City Manager at that time alleges to have no knowledge of these payouts. At all times, [Schnirman]’s supervisor was the Council and the Council never approved the payout, nor was it even aware of the payout."

The council leveled much of the blame for the payments at Schnirman, saying he overpaid employees "in direct contravention of the sick time payment rules."

In its response, the council wrote that it believes the actions taken by Schnirman and others to perpetuate the payouts is an "apparent conflict of interest," and said it is going to seek repayment of the funds.

"It is the Council’s position that the City Administration authorized payments and incurred obligations in violation of the provisions of the Charter and that any such payments and/or obligations may be void and illegal," the response reads. "...The Council believes an independent investigation of the propriety of the decisions of certain City Managers and Acting City Managers, and whether they should be held personally and individually liable to the City for any amounts paid is warranted."

However, the council said it would wait until after Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas and the United States Attorney have concluded investigations into the payouts before taking any legal action.

You can read the council's entire response here.