The City of Bradford payroll clerk accused of paying herself more than $100,000 in overtime she didn’t work is officially out of a job.
Effective Wednesday, Bonnie Hillyard, 64, of Lang Maid Lane, was terminated from the City of Bradford’s employment, according to Mayor Tom Riel. She had been on administrative leave from the city, awaiting disciplinary action. Riel had explained after her arrest last week that she was a union employee, and there were procedures to be followed before she was disciplined.
Hillyard is charged with theft by unlawful taking, 15 counts of theft by deception, 14 counts of tampering with public records, one count of theft by unlawful taking and 14 counts of criminal use of a communication facility, all third-degree felonies; 28 counts of tampering with public records, first-degree misdemeanors; one count of misapplying government property, a second-degree misdemeanor.
She had been scheduled to appear in McKean County Central Court Thursday, but her appearance was continued until Thursday. She is now represented by Smethport attorney James P. Miller.
According to court records, Hillyard said she was processing city employees’ dental claims while she was working overtime. However, police installed tracking software on her computer, and it showed she was processing the claims at work and falsifying the dates and times of the entries to show she was doing it on weekends and after hours, according to a criminal complaint in the case.
In one instance, while police were watching through tracking software, Hillyard processed seven claims in 28 minutes while at work, but billed overtime of 13.5 hours for it, court records state. Police found that she falsified her overtime on all 14 pay periods in a year, the records allege.
“We said just a few years ago that the City of Bradford will not tolerate any criminal activities by city employees on or off the job,” said Riel, who earlier this year had directed Police Chief Chris Lucco to look into all city overtime compensation.
Riel lauded Lucco’s work on the investigation.
A prepared statement, released by Riel at the time of Hillyard’s arrest, explained what Lucco’s investigation into overtime compensation had found.
“The investigation revealed that Hillyard had compensated herself more than $118,000 in overtime compensation in addition to her annual salary since 2010,” the statement read. “This in turn artificially inflated her pension calculation as well as the city’s annual minimum municipal obligation payment.
“Hillyard has made mention of retiring recently and this overtime compensation would have increased her pension by more than $7,000 a year for the rest of her — or a surviving spouse’s — lifetime, potentially costing the already strained pension fund more than $100,000. This is on top of the nearly $120,000 that was taken in the last 6.5 years.”
Hillyard had worked for the city for more than 18 years.
