While the city’s total overtime figure for the last fiscal year is astounding – because at $916,000 it’s more than 6 percent of the general fund budget – the important question is, what will officials do with the additional Measure T revenue to ensure tax dollars are maximized and workers don’t get burned out?
The City of Hollister recently released a list of employees’ overtime pay in response to a Free Lance public records request.
It’s understandable that overtime pay is high, especially in the police and fire departments, with the city’s budget troubles in recent years and coinciding staffing cuts.
Hollister’s general fund budget – which primarily finances workers’ pay and benefits – has shrunk in recent years, leaving many departments depleted and with few options at times but for certain employees to work overtime hours.
In public safety departments especially, emergencies are unpredictable, and when a staff is bare bones and someone goes on vacation or gets sick, sometimes it’s necessary that coworkers fill the void by working overtime.
Some police and fire employees, it turns out, earned more than 50 percent of their base salaries by working overtime in the fiscal year running July 1, 2006 to June 30. Police officer Rudy Rodriguez, for instance, worked more than 820 hours of O.T. and made an extra $39,204, meaning his overall pay eclipsed $105,000. Overtime pay included, both he and police Sgt. Ray Wood – who earned $32,812 in O.T. last fiscal year – are among the top 10 paid employees working for the City of Hollister.
“For us, overtime is often something that we can’t avoid,” Hollister Police Chief Jeff Miller told Free Lance reporter Anthony Ha.
Added Fire Chief Jeff Cheshire, “The overtime’s cheaper than hiring (extra) personnel, but I think we’re getting close to that break point.”
Now that the city will receive $3.5 million to $4 million annually from Measure T sales tax revenue, however, officials should place overtime pay under the microscope while debating how to spend that money.
With an expectation to add personnel to the police and fire departments, the amount of overtime pay must decrease significantly next year. It’s just a matter of, by how much?
That’s where a thorough analysis of overtime pay would come in handy. It should include an examination of all city departments and of how many full-time personnel would make best use of limited tax dollars. It should also include a scrutiny of each department’s practices for assigning or allowing overtime so that it can be avoided when possible.
What the voters who’ve just committed to a tax hike deserve in return is a commitment from officials that each and every dollar will be spent prudently.
