City Pays $1 Million Per Month in Police/Fire Overtime
Friday, January 27, 2012
The city of Providence shelled out more than $1 million per month in overtime and callback pay to police officers and firefighters between July 2010 and last month, according to a GoLocalProv review of public safety financial records.
The total amount spent over the 18 month period – which spans the entire 2011 fiscal year and the first six months of the 2012 fiscal year – was $18,294,680. The costs in the fire department are significantly larger than the police department, with firefighters raking in $14,216,706 over the time period, more than three times the amount police officers made.
Providence Public Safety Commissioner Steven Pare said large overtime expenses are a result of having not enough firefighters in the city and the amount of sick days that are taken.
“One of the drivers is a personnel shortage,” Pare said. “We need to hire more firefighters. We [also] need to be trending down the number of sick days they take. We have no problem if you’re sick and you take a day off. We have a problem if you’re not sick and you take a day off.”
Council President: I’m Concerned
The cash-strapped city’s concerns are nothing new. In a report issued last year, the Mayor Taveras-appointed Municipal Finance Review Panel noted that “city contracts are very balanced in favor of unions - the City has little or no management rights in areas of staffing, flexible work weeks, privatization, etc. This results in excessive overtime and callback salaries in nearly all major departments.”
The panel made specific recommendations to help curb some of the overtime costs. It suggested the city explore a substitute fire pool that would both cut back overtime and save shortages in the ranks.
Taveras then sought to address overtime costs in negotiations with the unions last summer and in an agreement with the fire union, he specifically pointed to reductions in minimum manning (from 92 to 90) and a one-week reduction of vacation time as examples of ways the city will cut back on overtime.
But while police officers are on pace to save more than $1 million in the 2012 fiscal year, the firefighters’ overtime could cost the city $500,000 more than it did last year. Providence City Council President Michael Solomon called the figures concerning.
“I think it's a positive sign that the Police Department have reigned in their overtime costs year over year,” Solomon said. “At the same time, I am concerned that the Fire Department is on pace to exceed their FY 2012 budget, even after minimum manning was reduced in the current contract. The Finance Committee has held hearings at the conclusion of each fiscal quarter and it has been a productive process. I look forward to analyzing these numbers in the hearing process with the hope that we can uncover underlying factors and then work with the Administration to do what we can to control them.”
Police Union President: We’re Doing Our Part
During the first six months of the current fiscal year, police officers were paid just over $867,000 in overtime, more than $1 million less than they were paid in the first six months of the 2011 fiscal year. Taft Manzotti, president of the Providence Fraternal Order of Police, blamed the policies of former Police Chief Dean Esserman’s for significantly increasing the costs of overtime.
Manzotti said the union was willing to come to table to address some of the problems of the past.
"We made some contractual agreements to curb some of the overtime costs," Manzotti said. “We did what we had to do contractually to curb the overtime. We’re doing our part to help out.”
Pare agreed that the department has been more efficient in managing its costs.
“We didn’t have the money,” Pare said. “We had a lot of discretionary spending with federal and city dollars and they’re managing that better now.”
Councilman: Committed to Holding all Departments Accountable
City Councilman David Salvatore said that while the efforts have been made to cut back some of the overtime costs, more needs to be done to keep different departments living within their budgets. Salvatore said the fire department has more work to do.
“While the people of Providence recognize that our public safety employees have the daunting task of protecting our City with less resources, we expect all departments to continue living within their monetary means and monitor their budgets on a daily basis,” Salvatore said. “It is my understanding, based on these expenditures, that our police department is exceeding expectations in year-to-date overtime spent while our fire department has an opportunity to focus on the Mayor's shared sacrifice theme.”
Salvatore said he expects the Council to hold all departments accountable.
“The data that will be presented to the Council's Finance Committee in the near future will paint a clearer picture of overtime spending in our public safety departments,” Salvatore said. “The Council is committed to monitoring this situation closely and holding all City departments accountable for their budgets.”
Paul Doughty, the president of the firefighters' union, did not respond to a request for comment.
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