Baltimore Sheriff Sam Cogen directed his staff to use a code on electronic timesheets to boost their wages, triggering an improper calculation that cost the city more than $2.2 million, the city’s inspector general has found.

The “incorrectly issued” payments, which have not been returned to the city, were made after Cogen instructed sheriff’s office employees to enter hours in the city’s online timekeeping system as “city detail overtime,” according to a report from Inspector General Isabel Mercedes Cumming that was released Wednesday. The coding was intended to pay deputies an additional $31,200 annually.

However, the pay code was misconfigured in the city’s timekeeping system, a detail that Cogen told the inspector general he was unaware of, the report said. As a result, 94 deputies who followed Cogen’s instructions were paid triple the amount they were due for a standard workday.

The story continues at The Baltimore Banner: Baltimore sheriff’s overtime order resulted in $2.2M overpayment to officers, inspector general finds

WYPR and The Baltimore Banner have a joint operating agreement that allows the nonprofit organizations to work collaboratively to deliver quality journalism across the region. To learn more about the partnership, click here.