Sheriff’s deputies were overpaid by more than $2 million, Inspector General reports

By Mike Hellgren

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    BALTIMORE (WJZ) — A problem in the city’s payroll system allowed some Baltimore sheriff’s deputies to be overpaid by three times their hourly wages to the tune of more than $2 million, according to a report by the Office of Inspector General.

However, the sheriff said the temporary solution cut off his deputies from receiving the money they are owed.

How it started

Baltimore City Sheriff Sam Cogen issued an order in November 2023 that gave his deputies an extra $15 an hour.

He told WJZ it went through a legal review.

The code he ordered his sworn staff to use on their timesheets in the city’s payroll system was faulty, and he did not know it was paying them three times that amount.

Sheriff Cogen has long fought for pay increases for his sworn deputies.

Under an agreement with the city, deputies were granted an extra $15 an hour when they worked details with city officers to cover special events and provide security.

The city solicitor said after asking the mayor for a pay raise for his deputies and being told the mayor did not have the authority to do so, Sheriff Cogen then told all sworn deputies to record all of their hours with the code that paid them more.

WJZ Investigator Mike Hellgren asked Inspector General Isabel Mercedes Cumming whether the deputies should have been using that code.

“That’s the million-dollar question, and that’s in front of an arbitration hearing right now,” Cumming said.

The sheriff responds

The sheriff told WJZ Investigates the extra pay was fully vetted and legal.

“The deputy sheriffs are working harder than they ever have, and there was a contract that was signed before I came into office with the previous administration that allowed them to get a $15-an-hour bonus if they were doing police work. And since I’ve come into office, that’s all they do now is police work,” Cogen said. “They’re entitled to that bonus, and we ran it through our legal counsel that they were entitled to that, and we got an ok to implement it.”

Unbeknownst to the sheriff, the city made a mistake with that pay code, and it led to deputies getting three times their pay.

Inspector General Cumming cited one example where a deputy who would have earned more than $3,000 in a pay period was instead paid more than $10,000.

Payroll code changed

The city’s finance department shut down the faulty payroll code last February—three months after the sheriff’s order—leading to $2.3 million in overpayments according to Cumming.

But the sheriff said because it has been shut down for almost a year, some of his deputies are entitled to back pay.

“They shut off the $15 an hour that the deputies are entitled to. They’re not entitled to overpayment, but they’re entitled to $15 an hour,” Cogen told WJZ.

Hellgren asked the Inspector General whether anything had been repaid.

“Not a penny,” Cumming said.

All of this is in arbitration—whether the city must pay money or will get money back.

The sheriff was fully cooperative in the investigation.

Cumming said the $15-an-hour bump increased deputies’ pay by roughly $31,000 a year each and noted they have been getting cost of living increases.

You can read the Inspector General’s full report here including responses from the city solicitor and the sheriff.

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