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The Southampton Town Board narrowly approved another $18,000 in police overtime costs on Tuesday night in what has become a routine action during recent meetings, and a point of frustration for some board members.
Even though the Southampton Town Police Department accrued an additional $33,000 in overtime costs over the first two weeks of November, the board was asked on Tuesday to allocate only an additional $18,000 because there was money remaining from an earlier allotment, explained Town Comptroller Tamara Wright.
The measure passed 3-2, with Town Councilman Jim Malone voting no and Town Councilman Chris Nuzzi abstaining.
As of the end of November, Town Police Chief William Wilson Jr. had spent an estimated $702,000 on police overtime, some $225,000 more than he was budgeted for this year, according to Ms. Wright. And that figure is only expected to go up before the end of the year as it does not include overtime expenditures for the last two weeks of November and all of December.
With three pay periods remaining in the year—overtime runs at a two-week lag—Mr. Malone estimated on Tuesday that the town could expect to pay another $120,000 more in police overtime. “Which would be 850,000—all told,” he said.
It was not immediately clear how much more money Chief Wilson would need to get his department through the end of the year as he has not returned calls in recent weeks, namely ever since his department’s overtime expenditures have been the focus of board meetings.
The accumulated overtime costs greatly exceed the $475,000 budget for overtime expenses set aside for the police department in 2011, though some town officials have acknowledged that this year’s budget was underfunded. The department spent about $525,000 on overtime in 2010, according to Ms. Wright.
Town Councilwoman Bridget Fleming noted that Chief Wilson presented a report to board members prior to Tuesday night’s meeting outlining the overtime expenses. She said he “recognizes the constraints” and has already acted to curb overtime by taking a patrol car off the road.
Ms. Fleming also noted that one of the expenses in the most recent report that jumped out at her was the 21 entries for “shift shortages”—shifts left unfilled by officers who are out on disability or have taken time off.
“There are other adjustments that he’s making, which I think is included in the outline that he gave you earlier today,” Ms. Fleming told her fellow board members.
Town Attorney Tiffany Scarlato declined to provide a copy of the report to the media, stating that it contained sensitive police information.
Still, Mr. Malone and Mr. Nuzzi seemed unsatisfied with the report, and they noted that overtime costs haven’t changed much since they first addressed it with the chief.
“It doesn’t seem as though we’re changing the numbers,” Mr. Malone said. “It’s still running at about $20,000 a week.”
Town Supervisor Anna Throne-Holst added that she met with the chief and asked him to provide a memo that anticipates what December will cost the town in overtime. She also said that officers tend to take their vacation days during November and December, and that overtime traditionally spikes toward the end of the year.
Mr. Nuzzi said he was under the impression that a policy change would be enacted to help reduce overtime costs. He also pointed out that the issue first came to light in October.
“We’re almost into December now, hearing [that] the numbers don’t seem to have changed much,” Mr. Nuzzi said. “Actually, they seem to have increased slightly. And there’s still no clear direction as to what’s happening or what’s proposed to deal with the overtime issue. I’ve been waiting for that memo for quite a while.”
Mr. Nuzzi said he abstained, rather than voting no, because he did not want to vote against paying the officers for time served. He said it was not their fault that their overtime was authorized by the police chief.
Rohma Abbas on Nov 30, 2011