RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — More than five months after Richmond city auditors found that the Richmond Retirement System (RRS) paid more than $550,000 to deceased retirees, a new audit released on Friday shows multiple high-priority recommendations remain open and significant issues are still unresolved.
On Friday, May 9, the Office of the City Auditor (OCA) completed an audit of the RRS, which provides retirement, disability retirement and survivor benefits to more than 4,000 members. The audit found that 44 deceased retirees received $554,661.50 in payments after their date of death, with overpayments ranging from 10 days to over seven years. Auditors attributed the overpayments to delays in identifying deceased members, errors in calculating overpayments and inconsistency when verifying death audit reports.
The May audit also emphasized that the RRS issued incorrect 1099-R forms for 2022 after one-time bonus payments were misclassified as “non-taxable” in its payroll system, indicating further significant internal control issues for the RRS, though separate from the overpayments to deceased retirees…