City of Cape Girardeau's overtime is over budget

Ice storms, wind storms, holidays and on-the-job training. Those are the reasons Cape Girardeau city officials give, at least in part, for employee overtime that exceeds budgeted amounts in 15 of 28 payroll accounts.

Overall, the city spent $617,000 on overtime in the first nine months of the fiscal year while budgeting only $522,000 for the full year.

As the Cape Girardeau City Council wrote this year's budget in June, it cut overtime accounts by 10 percent. While that cut hasn't been realized, it helped when the budget needed to be in balance when passed.

Once again, facing a budget that must endure cuts to gain balance, the council wants department heads to justify their overtime spending. But interim city manager Ken Eftink said a more complete picture emerges when the city's payroll of $21.4 million is reviewed. Spending on salaries and wages, Eftink said, is $250,000 below the budget thanks to severely restricted hiring.

"It is something we look at every year," Eftink said of the overtime. "We are seeing a lot of increase in overtime, and we need to know why."

Jerry lucas, a Cape Girardeau city employee for 20 years this summer, checks incoming bad weather Friday morning, May 8, 2009, at the Cape Girardeau Public Works facility. (Kit Doyle)

The biggest three departments in city government -- police, fire and public works -- consumed 86 percent of the overtime paid through March, a total of $531,877.

The police department was under its overtime budget for the year but had paid out $238,468. Both public works and the fire department are over budget, with the fire department spending $171,433 on overtime and public works paying $121,936 for overtime.

Evaluating the cost

Overtime is built into every budget to allow departments to cover for employees out on sick leave or vacations, Eftink said. Overtime budgets are scrutinized to determine if the city would be better off with an extra employee, either full or part time, he said.

"We look at the history of overtime and how much overtime is being used and make evaluations based on that," Eftink said.

Unavoidable overtime includes making sure the fire department has at least the minimum crew on hand or sending public works employees out to remove ice or debris following storms. "A public works person out there pushing snow needs to stay out there," Eftink said.

The police department has overtime that is unavoidable, chief Carl Kinnison said. For example, officers who work on a city holiday receive holiday plus the overtime rate of 1 1/2 times their normal hourly pay.

Another significant amount -- $43,000 this year -- is overtime for specific jobs such as driving while intoxicated checkpoints or safety belt enforcement that is paid from grants, Kinnison said. Officers attending court to testify can also run up overtime, he said.

"I think we are as tight as we can be," Kinnison said. "Overtime in law enforcement is kind of the nature of the beast."

The city is $661,000 short for the 2010 fiscal budget. Finding $50,000 in the police payroll budget, for example, would mean choices that are bad for public safety. "If we were to come up with $50,000, we would have to shut down this building or stop feeding prisoners," he said.

Across Sprigg Street at the fire department, some issues are the same -- covering staff shortages due to vacation, sicknesss or training. In the current budget, the city projected an almost 50 percent cut in fire department overtime but that has not occurred.

The reason, chief Rick Ennis said, is likely a misunderstanding about how the fire department was supposed to use a federal grant that allowed him to hire three additional firefighters. By accepting a SAFER, or Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response, grant, the city increased each of its three fire platoons from 18 to 19. At the same time, the minimum number of firefighters who must be working at any time was increased from 14 to 15.

The difference in platoon size and minimum staffing allows for training, vacations and sick days, Ennis said. He's happy the department has cut the number of overtime hours used to maintain minimum staffing. While up this year from the previous year, if the staffing had remained steady the two years would be comparable.

Major storms have forced additional overtime, including Hurricane Ike in September and the ice storm in January, that will be reimbursed from FEMA and the state because of disaster declarations, Ennis noted. Any large cuts in his overtime budget, he said, could affect services. But he will do as ordered, he said. "Our job is to give the council options, and what they direct us to cut it by, 10 percent or 20 percent, we will try to do."

At public works, Hurricane Ike, the January ice storm and repeated floods on the Mississippi River all contributed to overtime spending exceeding the budget, said Tim Gramling, department director. The fleet management shop, for example, has spent more than two times its $5,900 overtime budget to keep plows on the street and other city equipment operating, Gramling said.

At the wastewater treatment plant, workers who maintain storm-water drains and those who operate the plant have all racked up over-budget overtime. But repeated big storms meant debris removal from storm channels and extra personnel to keep the sewer plant in operation as the river rose.

"We very seldom have any type of overtime to do normal or mundane work," Gramling said. "Eighty percent is related to emergency events." And much of that money will also return to the city with FEMA reimbursements, he noted.

Still, Eftink said he may propose cuts in some overtime budgets. "It is something we will continue to look at," he said.

rkeller@semissourian.com

388-3642

Pertinent addresses:

401 Independence Street, Cape Girardeau, Mo.

1 S. Sprigg St., Cape Girardeau, Mo.

40 S. Sprigg St., Cape Girardeau, Mo.

2007 Southern Expressway, Cape Girardeau, Mo.