Wausau's finance director is banking a lot of vacation

While the spotlight last week was on city overtime, the city's chief financial officer has banked hundreds of hours of vacation beyond city policy

All eyes last week were on Wausau’s overtime spending, which many found alarming.

But new data unearthed by The Wausonian shows the city’s finance director, Maryanne Groat, has amassed hundreds of hours of vacation time — well in excess of city policy around time off.

And while records obtained by The Wausonian show only Groat currently in excess of the policy, The Wausonian later learned there were more exceptions. Now all of them are back under the vacation cap, Wausau’s mayor says.

Except the finance director.

Here’s what we know.

The vacation balance

The Wausonian recently received vacation accrual data for several city employees. According to the data and information provided by Human Resources Director Lisa Nowak, the city’s finance director had accrued far more vacation time than city policy allows.

Nowak told The Wausonian that city policy allows 280 hours of vacation carryover and 80 hours in a separate no-payout vacation leave bank, for a combined total of 360 hours.

The records show Groat’s balance was far above that cap — and the dollar value of that unused time is substantial.