$43,532.44 of his $154,339.25 yearly earnings in ’07-08, and $45,903.49 of his $156,636.85 in earnings for ’06-07.
This story leaves very important questions unanswered, Questions such as- Why does this poor man have no personal life? Is the term "overtime hound" sexual in nature? and how do I get his Ice cream picture?
Link to story at the Tracy Press
Working overtime
The city of Tracy paid out $2.4 million in overtime last fiscal year, a significant drop from the year before.
| Written by Eric Firpo | |
| Friday, 03 October 2008 |
Forty city employees earned at least $20,000 in overtime during the 2007-08 fiscal year that ended at the end of June, and the city spent $2.4 million in overtime, a $300,000 drop from the previous year, records show.
The city has 480 full-time employees and 74 more "full-time equivalents," part-time jobs filled by dozens of people, said finance director Zane Johnston. Tracy spent $36.8 million in salaries, wages and overtime pay in fiscal year 2007-08, which ended June 30. Records show that 105 city employees, or nearly 22 percent, earned more than $100,000 in the most recent fiscal year.
City Manager Leon Churchill, in an effort to save money during tough times for the city’s budget, has ordered that all overtime for city employees be accompanied by a manager’s signature.
Most of the money spent on overtime in fiscal 2007-08 went to employees in the police and fire departments, as has been the case in previous years. And in terms of the number of people who earned more than $20,000 in overtime alone, the numbers held fairly steady in the past two years.
In fiscal year 2007-08, Tracy had 40 people earn more than $20,000 in overtime pay, and eight people made more than $30,000 in overtime. In fiscal year 2006-07, Tracy paid 35 people more than $20,000 in overtime, and eight earned more than $30,000.
In both years, fire Capt. Eric Oliveira earned more in overtime pay than anyone else in the city — $43,532.44 of his $154,339.25 yearly earnings in ’07-08, and $45,903.49 of his $156,636.85 in earnings for ’06-07.
Churchill said paying overtime is cheaper than hiring a new full-time employee with benefits, up to a point.
"And we’re not at that point yet," he said.
Fire Chief Chris Bosch could not be reached for comment, but at the police department, Assistant Police Chief Rick Golphin said overtime is "screened and scrutinized for necessity," but "some of it is not controllable by us. You really can’t control what time an incident comes in."
Overtime can occur for various reasons, such as when a big crime or accident happens at the tail end of a shift that might force officers to stick around on duty.
Officers have to fill in when someone is out sick and are sometimes asked to testify in court during their weekdays off, which adds up to overtime.
He also said the city, at times, uses short-term grant money to pay overtime rather than hiring someone who would be laid off in a year or two when the grant money runs out.
He notes that every department has "overtime hounds," but that the heavy use of overtime can burn out employees and get them to leave sooner than they would otherwise.
"Overtime is probably less expensive in the short term," he said. "You want full-time employees and don’t want to burn your people out."
One thing that neither articles like this, nor the managers that they interview, mention is that often a lot of the OT being attacked is scheduled! Almost $30k of my annual pay is from normal scheduled shifts. The captains OT actually doesn't seem excessive once you pull schedule OT out of the equation.
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