UPDATED Providence Police Overtime Costs Near $5M
Wednesday, January 05, 2011
The cost of overtime and callback pay in the Providence Police Department ballooned to nearly $5 million in 2010—more than $1 million over what was budgeted that fiscal year and $2 million more than two years earlier.
“They just seem to go out and spend millions on their overtime budget,” said city Councilman John Igliozzi, chairman of the Finance Committee. “It’s a running management problem that they consistently go over their budget allotment.”
In 2008, city budget records show that the total of all line items related to overtime and callback pay was $2.7 million. The city budgeted $3.2 million for overtime and callback in 2010, but spent $4.7 million, according to a GoLocalProv review of city finance records, which lump overtime and callback together.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTMelissa Withers, spokeswoman for Mayor Angel Taveras, said overtime costs would be addressed in the new administration. "Compensation and budgetary issues are among those things that Colonel Steven Pare will be evaluating as part of his review of the City's Public Safety department," Withers said. Pare took office as the acting Commissioner of Public Safety on Monday.
Newly elected Council President Michael Solomon said the rising cost is an issue that the council also will be looking into this year. “I imagine it’s something that we’ll be discussing in the near future as we have budget deliberations,” Solomon told GoLocalProv.
But Igliozzi, who has been an outspoken advocate of tighter budget controls, said public safety is not where he wanted to start making budget cuts. “I think right now you’ve got to look at other things in the city,” Igliozzi said. “Public safety—it’s just a different animal. You can’t play around with public safety. You have to make sure you provide enough resources to keep the city safe.”
Overtime Costs Higher in Warmer Months
Persistent vacancies have been the main reason behind overtime costs in the Fire Department, which hit nearly $9 million in the same year—a $1 million increase from 2008. But Police Chief Dean Esserman told GoLocalProv that different factors were behind the cost of overtime and callback in his department. During the warmer months of the summer and fall when there are more activities, he said the Police Department spends overtime at a much higher rate than it does in the colder months.
That still does not account for the overall rise in overtime and callback in 2010, which is based on pay records for the whole fiscal year. Pressed to explain why overall costs were up for the whole year, Esserman said the difference between what was budgeted and what was spent would be offset by three federal grants—a Byrnes grant and two grants related to drug enforcement.
(Overtime occurs when an officer works a longer shift. Call back is when an officer is asked to return to work after leaving a shift. The rate for overtime and callback is the same—one and a half times the regular hourly wage.)
Senior Staff Net the Most Overtime
On average, police officers earned $8,186 in overtime or callback pay in 2010. But pay records indicate that it is not evenly distributed throughout the department. A third of the money paid out went to just 50 police officers. And, of the top 15 earners in overtime and callback, most were senior officers—five lieutenants, four sergeants, and one captain. Esserman himself did not take any overtime or callback pay.
Some officers earned almost as much in overtime and callback pay as they did in their regular salaries. For example, Lt. Alfred Zonfrilli carried a salary of $74,076 in 2010, plus another $67,181 in overtime and callback—the most of anyone in the department.
The second highest was Jo Marcoccio, a detention officer, who made $46,014 in overtime and callback, in addition to a current salary of $47,966.
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