YOUNGSTOWN Chiefs blame overtime rise on depleted staffing levels

Overtime often is a cheaper tool than putting more workers on the payroll.
By ROGER G. SMITH
CITY HALL REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- The police and fire chiefs blame low staffing in their departments for much of the leap in city overtime last year.
The city spent $2.67 million last year on overtime, a 31-percent increase over 2002, city records show.
More than 60 percent of the $630,000 overtime increase came just in the police and fire departments.
That's despite a harsh weather year that saw many street and sewer workers receive tens of thousands of dollars in overtime.
Police spent $275,000 more on overtime in 2003 compared to the previous year, a 42-percent increase. Fire spent $116,000 more, a 35-percent increase.
Those figures include scheduled holiday pay for police officers and firefighters, which the city lumps in with overtime.
Police Chief Robert Bush Jr. and Fire Chief John J. O'Neill Jr. said increased overtime spending made up for short staffing.
The police department had about 190 officers most of last year, Bush said. Today there are about 195. He considers full staffing to be between 210 and 230 officers.
The fire department had about 140 firefighters last year, O'Neill said. There are about 136 today. He considers full staffing to be about 148 firefighters.
Tax increase
Collection started in 2003 of a voter-approved, half-percent income tax increase dedicated to police, fire and capital improvements.
Shortly before the tax increase was approved in 2002, Finance Director David Bozanich said that the additional $7.2 million annually would generate enough to return 15 firefighters and 11 police officers from layoff. Indeed, the city recalled those workers the day after the tax passed.
Bozanich also said the additional money eventually would bring staffing to 206 police officers and 148 firefighters, which the chiefs called full staffing.
That didn't happen last year -- and isn't projected to happen this year, either, he said. Pay raises and benefit cost increases for police and firefighters ate up money that would have been used to add more staff, he said.
Revenue
Mayor George M. McKelvey points out that he made good on his promise to immediately recall all laid off police and firefighters and that his pledge couldn't go beyond that.
That's because reaching full strength in police and fire is a target that depends solely on revenue, he said. The city ended 2003 with a $900,000 deficit so McKelvey said beefing up police and fire simply wasn't possible and likely won't be this year.
"You can't hire if you don't have the money," he said. "It's math 101."
The city is concerned about overtime levels, Bozanich said. The key is to find the right balance between the number of workers and overtime, he said.
As the city downsizes, managers are trying to reach that point while dealing with ever-changing conditions, such as retirement and resignations, he said.
"Managers figure it out. It just takes a little while to be where they want to be," Bozanich said.
The city does the best it can to optimize the service it offers and the size of its safety forces, he said.
"Sometimes it means overtime, sometimes it doesn't," Bozanich said.
Battling crime
Overtime often is a cheaper tool to provide police and fire service than putting more workers on the payroll and paying their benefits, Bozanich said.
Bush said last year he ordered scheduled overtime curtailed. But he gave captains the authority to use overtime when they felt the extra bodies were necessary.
Police expected trouble with violence and gangs in the summer and used overtime to keep patrols healthy, Bush said.
City police joined state and federal law enforcement in the Gun Reduction Interdiction Program in the summer. The crackdown is credited with dropping homicides from an average of seven during a 10-week period to one during the same time last year. The anti-crime push also resulted in nearly 350 arrests during that time, from major to minor crimes.
State and federal agencies pay some of the overtime related to special initiatives such as GRIP, said Detective William Blanchard, police fiscal officer. Most of the police overtime at issue, however, stems from regular patrol work and is city-paid, he said.
More arrests from efforts like GRIP mean more time spent in court, too, which raised overtime costs last year, Bush said. Officers are paid overtime for court appearances equal to four hours of an officer's regular pay.
Accumulated time
Also, Bush said more overtime than usual must be paid when staffing is lower because of accumulated time, or days off in lieu of being paid overtime. Fewer officers mean more of them reach the maximum amount of accumulated time. That means they must be paid instead of being given time off.
Despite hiring a few firefighters last year, staffing levels were still too low because of retirements to avoid big overtime, O'Neill said.
Fire overtime adds up quickly because the department has 24-hour shifts. Covering one shift is an automatic 24 hours overtime.
O'Neill said having about 136 firefighters now instead of 148 means overtime in 2004 is on pace to be even higher than last year, he said.
O'Neill said he could cut his overtime budget to just $40,000 a year if the city hired six to eight firefighters. That would cost $210,000 to $280,000 -- money the city doesn't have.
Paying overtime, cutting service by closing stations or waiting for city revenue to increase and hiring more firefighters are the options, he said.
"We're trying to weather the storm and hope the economy comes back," he said.
rgsmith@vindy.com