UW System’s Kevin Reilly vows review after audit shows overpayments [The Wisconsin State Journal]

Jan. 12--University of Wisconsin System President Kevin Reilly on Friday said he was deeply troubled and highly embarrassed by a recent state audit that found nearly $33 million in overpayments for health insurance premiums and pension contributions in the past two years.

The Legislative Audit Bureau's findings prompted state lawmakers to call for a deeper review of UW System's payroll and benefit protocols. Reilly said a review would begin immediately, with internal financial and audit staff doing a "comprehensive review" of the overpayments.

He also promised to hire an outside, independent auditor to do a risk assessment of the human resources system.

"We will identify exactly why and how these significant errors occurred ... and we will make absolutely sure that similar errors do not happen again," he said in a statement.

Results of the reviews will be shared publicly with the Board of Regents and state lawmakers, Reilly said.

The system has recouped all $17.5 million in overpayments made to the Wisconsin Retirement System in 2011 for pension contributions. Of the $15.4 million in overpayments on employee health insurance premiums found by the audit, the system has so far recouped $2.4 million, according to the release. Earlier reports said the system had recouped just $228,000.

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