Going over OT budgets

Some employees were able to boost their wages by more than 20 percent.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
HERMITAGE, Pa. -- Bad winter weather, summer storms and a temporary staff shortage are blamed for the city's police and street departments' exceeding their overtime budgets in 2003.
The overage wasn't a particularly large amount of money in either department in terms of the overall $9 million budget, however.
Police exceeded their general duty overtime account, budgeted at $50,000, by just $3,956.
The street department, with overtime budgeted at $45,000, exceeded that amount by $21,833.
The year 2003 was a bad-weather year, said City Manager Gary Hinkson, pointing out that most of the street department overtime was incurred clearing streets of ice and snow at the beginning and end of the year.
Summer was tough on overtime in the street department as well, he said, pointing out that severe storms in July and August resulted in street department workers' being called out after regular working hours to help clear roads of fallen trees and debris.
The most overtime was earned by five equipment operators who worked enough additional hours to help boost their base salaries between 15 percent and 20 percent for the year, city payroll records show.
Police overtime
Some of the police overtime can be attributed to the weather as well, Hinkson said, pointing out that off-duty officers sometimes had to be called out to assist with traffic control.
Police Chief Edward Stanton said his department was operating three officers short for much of the year with one policeman on sick leave and two others called up for military duty.
That resulted in overtime incurred to cover the manpower shortage, he said.
Hinkson said the department is required to maintain a certain number of officers on the street for public safety, and the shifts must be staffed even if officers are off sick or because of an injury or on vacation.
Some officers are willing to work overtime and others aren't. The result is that some earned little or no overtime while a few worked enough overtime to help boost their base salaries by more than 20 percent, the payroll records show.
More than a half-dozen were able to raise their base pay between 12 percent and 19 percent.
The police chief, deputy chief and captain of detectives aren't allowed to earn general duty overtime but could work "off-duty overtime" such as covering high school football and basketball games, although that would be rare, Hinkson said.
Other additions to pay
Officers' take-home pay for the year also included shift differentials of 50 cents per hour for those who worked late afternoon or overnight hours, longevity pay that ranges from 2.5 percent to 7 percent of base pay (based upon years of service after a minimum of five years), training overtime, holiday overtime and court time.
Officers get 12 paid holidays a year, but if they don't use them all, the city will buy them back at regular time, not overtime, at the end of the year, Hinkson said.
None of that additional income is part of the base pay, he said.
That's the same situation for street department workers whose take-home pay also could include longevity pay between 3 percent and 6 percent of their base salary based on years of service after a minimum of six years, a shift differential of 40 cents, and a buyback of unused paid holidays at their regular hourly rate.
All employees can take compensatory time off instead of overtime they earned, and a few do that, Hinkson said. A person working one hour of overtime can take 11/2 hours off without losing any pay, he added.
gwin@vindy.com