Crack down on overtime pay

The Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat: Is anyone really surprised that some state workers are making $100,000-plus a year in overtime — sometimes more than double their regular pay? No one should be.

After all, this is New York where the projected budget deficit is about $10 billion and more than $30 billion over the next three years.

This untenable situation is all the more reason why Gov. Andrew Cuomo needs to rectify it quickly. Otherwise he risks making a mockery of his vow to significantly reduce state spending when some state employees are feeding at the trough. A nurse at a Westchester County prison, for example, earned $146,482 in overtime in 2009 — making him the top OT recipient on the state payroll.

State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli should help. Rather than coming in for an audit after the fact, he needs to help make sure state agencies are following rigid fiscal management guidelines that include overtime.

True, overtime is often forced by layoffs and 24- hour operations, as was the case at psychiatric centers and prisons where much of the huge o vertime expense occurred. At the Broome Developmental Center, overtime soared 88 percent from $4.5 million to $8.5 million last year.

But couldn’t OT be better managed? Of course. It’s done ... in the private sector.