In light of the chaos at the past weeks' fests, Athens' police and firefighters could rack up a significant amount of overtime pay this year, which would decimate the city's overtime budget.
In 2009, Athens Police Department officers collected nearly $183,000 in overtime, according to payroll documents from the city auditor's office. That number is more than three times the budgeted amount for 2010. Officers and firefighters are compensated with time-and-a-half for working more than 40 hours a week.
The police overtime budget is currently about $51,000, said Mayor Paul Wiehl, who sets the amount.
We low-balled the overtime because we have to fit the budget
Wiehl said.
The mayor, who receives the city's estimated revenue from the city auditor, puts together the budget and then submits it to the finance committee.
(The committee) says 'Well it's too high.' So you start chopping ... you chop away a police car
you chop away some overtime. You chop away anywhere you can find it
Wiehl said.
Police overtime for 2010 has a pretty good dip in it right now
he added.
If necessary, the mayor will ask City Council to appropriate more money from the general fund for additional overtime hours.
Athens spent about $26,000 on overtime hours for police, fire and code enforcement officers during Palmerfest weekend.
A certain amount is built into the police budget for spring activities that take place
and then some for Halloween weekend
said Rick Mayer, Athens police chief.
In 2008, the police department used a total of about 6,575 hours of overtime, which translates into nearly $236,702 of overtime pay.
The push for overtime control is evident by the numbers from 2009. The police department used 4,926
overtime hours, resulting in nearly $183,000 of overtime pay.
Numbers for the fire department also show a decrease from 2008 to 2009 as overtime hours dropped from 2,872 to 2,753 hours. Unlike the police department, the fire department's overtime pay went up about $1,700 from 2008 to 2009.
Fire Chief Bob Troxel attributed the jump to increasing pay rates.
The fire department has been very aggressive in reducing overtime hours
he said.
In efforts to control overtime hours, the fire department has tried to restrict the number of all-calls
said Kathy Hecht, the city auditor, in an e-mail.
All-calls are when firefighters on duty call in all available off-duty firefighters, other departments, such as the Ohio University Police Department and APD, to help out with a call, she said.
There are still times when an all-call will go out
depending on the seriousness or scope of the fire
