http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/local/scn-sa-overtime4jul13,0,6130693.story?coll=stam-news-local-headlines
By Zach Lowe
Staff Writer
July 13, 2006
STAMFORD -- The police department spent a record $4.8 million in overtime in 2005-06, up from just over $3 million the previous fiscal year, according to final budget figures released yesterday.
The jump, which brought overtime costs to nearly double the $2.5 million first budgeted, came about because of staffing shortages and time-consuming investigations, officials said yesterday. The staffing problems, which typically are worse in the summer, have left the department with fewer than the required number of officers for several shifts the past two months, officials said. The department must hire officers at overtime rates to fill those shifts.
Mayor Dannel Malloy said keeping officers past their shifts has helped cut crime after a rash of shootings and gang activity on the West Side since January. Officers worked more hours, some as part of Operation Clean Streets, a monthlong crackdown on gang activity and drug dealing that has led to nearly 60 criminal charges.
"To do something like that, you have to spend money," Malloy said.
A monthly breakdown shows overtime costs peaked in the months after an unknown gunman shot and killed Flanegaine Joseph, 19, on the West Side in late January. The killing, which remains unsolved, sparked a monthlong war between Bloods and Crips on the West Side.
Police overtime has been a controversial issue since former police Chief Dean Esserman, who led the department from 1998 to 2001, admitted giving every lieutenant 12 hours of overtime pay each week as motivation.
Overtime costs skyrocketed from about $1.1 million in 1993-94 to $2.7 million in 2000-01, records show.
The Board of Finance wrangled with Esserman and his successor, Louis DeCarlo, over shifting money around the budget to cover police overtime. The city eventually audited the police payroll system and found several irregularities, including missing overtime slips and slips supervisors never signed.
Still, overtime costs ballooned to just over $3 million in 2004-05 before leaping to $4.8 million last year.
The city received about $75,000 in federal and state grants for the police department, said Peter Privitera, director of the Office of Policy and Management. That number was closer to $200,000 or $300,000 in recent years, he said.
The final overtime budget will drop to about $4.5 million once the city uses about $300,000 in savings from other areas of the budget and assets police seized in drug busts, Privitera said. Privitera's office released the budget figures yesterday.
Overtime accounted for about 12 percent of the police department's $39 million budget. In recent months, city officials have received additional money from the Board of Finance for the added overtime costs. The last request for funds was made to the board last night.
Overtime costs rose in part because the department is understaffed, said Lt. Sean Cooney, a department spokesman, and Officer Michael Merenda, president of the police union. There about 260 active police officers now; the department is budgeted for 307 officers, according to Bill Callion, the city's director of public safety.
The shortages have left the department with less than the required 18 officers on several shifts in the past two months, officials said.
Supervisors ask for volunteers to fill the remaining slots, Cooney said. If there are not enough volunteers, supervisors force officers to stay on the job for an extra eight-hour shift, Cooney said.
Officers, some of whom double their base salary by working overtime, enjoy the extra work but would prefer to do it by choice, Merenda said.
"Overtime is our livelihood," he said. "We love overtime. But nobody likes to be forced to work."
Callion said police are preparing to train a new recruiting class. The department welcomed a new class this year, but several senior officers are planning to retire in the next few years, Callion said.
Police departments around the country are finding it more difficult to recruit police officers, Callion and Malloy said. Merenda said potential recruits may stay away from Stamford because of the high cost of living.
City officials believe they can still draw recruits, Callion said.
In the meantime, Malloy said the $4.8 million was reasonable given staffing levels and a rise in violent crime.
"We're staying within budget constraints pretty well," Malloy said. "And I think people are happy with the results."
Copyright © 2006, Southern Connecticut Newspapers, Inc.