Former sheriff’s sergeant made nearly $25,000 in overtime
HOLLISTER
San Benito County paid nearly $350,000 in overtime in calendar year 2006, according to numbers requested by the Free Lance and provided by the county.
That’s a relatively small amount, county officials said. The City of Hollister, whose overall budget is around one-third the size of the county’s, paid more than $900,000 in overtime between July 1, 2006 and June 30, 2007.
The largest overtime amount went to former sheriff’s Sgt. Michael Rodrigues, who made $24,614.28. That made him the third highest-paid county employee in 2006, behind only County Administrative Officer Susan Thompson and Sheriff Curtis Hill.
Supervisor Jaime De La Cruz said he periodically checks with county departments to see how much they’re paying in overtime. There haven’t been any problems, he said.
“Overtime in our county has never been an issue,” De La Cruz said. “I really have faith in our managers to keep things under control.”
The majority of the overtime money – around $180,000, according to Hill – went to the sheriff’s department. That’s normal, said Assistant County Administrative Officer Rich Inman.
“Quite frankly, I was surprised it was as low as it was,” Inman said.
A few social service workers also received substantial overtime pay, he added, because they were asked to help transport people outside the county.
As for Rodrigues, Hill said the former sergeant made most of his overtime money working as a bailiff in the county courts, plus working on marijuana eradication and law enforcement at Hollister’s motorcycle rally. Those services were reimbursed by the state government, the federal government and the City of Hollister, respectively, Hill said.
Rodrigues ended his 25 years with the department in November. Prior to his departure, Rodrigues spent an embattled final four months on the job. During that time, several women made allegations of rape against him. A sheriff’s office probe of Rodrigues has been shipped to District Attorney Candice Hooper for review.
On Nov. 8, Hill announced that Rodrigues was “no longer employed by the County of San Benito,” but did not specify whether the former sergeant resigned or was fired.
Overall, Hill said he’s reduced sheriff’s office overtime by refusing to put officers on extra duty when employees take vacation or call in sick.
“When your workforce gets thinned out, the easy thing to do is to call in overtime to maintain that status quo,” Hill said. “The way I handle the overtime now, whoever comes through the door is who’s working.”
The new policy began several years ago, Hill said, and has also discouraged officers from taking unnecessary time off. Asked if some in the department feel the practice can leave them short-staffed, Hill said, “That occurs, but the reality is, people need to have their time off.”
In contrast, Hollister Police Chief Jeff Miller and Interim Fire Chief Fred Cheshire have said their understaffed departments need to pay overtime to meet basic public safety needs. Cheshire has also noted paying overtime can actually save money, since agencies don’t have to hire extra employees, but he said Hollister is “pretty close to that break point.”
In fiscal year 2006-07, Hollister paid eight employees more for overtime than Rodrigues received in 2006.
In its initial request, the Free Lance asked to see county overtime pay for fiscal year 2006-07, so the numbers would be directly comparable to the city’s, but Inman said the county only keeps overtime records by calendar year.
