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Fargo staff brief commissioners on overtime: $31M over decade, $21.5M net after reimbursements
Summary
City finance and department leaders told the Fargo City Commission Monday that overtime pay totaled about $31 million over the last decade and, after excluding policy and reimbursed amounts, a net of roughly $21.5 million.
City finance officials and department leaders presented an analysis Monday showing the City of Fargo spent roughly $31 million in overtime pay over the past decade (staff noted the dataset covers 10–11 years). After removing compensations that stem from policy (holiday/on‑call pay) and amounts reimbursed to the city by outside entities, staff estimated the net overtime cost at about $21.5 million.
Susan Thompson, the city’s finance director, reviewed open‑records data and said about $5.7 million related to holiday/on‑call policy pay and about $4.2 million was reimbursed (for example, grant‑funded recovery and bill‑backs to users of services), leaving the net figure. "For the last decade... $31,000,000 in overtime. 10,000,000 of that, was either through policy related items... So the net... is that $21,500,000," Thompson said.
Department heads detailed why overtime is routinely necessary. Ben (Public Works director) described how a 3‑inch plowable snow event can trigger a cleanup cycle that stretches across five to seven days and requires staff working 12‑hour shifts. "When you’re looking at a 3 inch plowable snow event, it's a 5 to 7 day cleanup... we’re really working on cleaning those arterial roadways and plowing them until we can get into our residential neighborhoods," he said.
Fire Chief said the department relies on overtime to maintain minimum daily staffing — a 32‑person minimum across eight stations — and that training, military leave and long‑term medical leaves reduce available shift staffing. "Requiring overtime to receive prior approval from the city commission would cause significant logistical issues," the chief said, noting the practical difficulty of routing staffing through commission approvals.
Tom Nacbus, city engineer, said construction‑season work requires staff to be present whenever contractors are working; short construction seasons in the Upper Midwest push staff to match extended contractor hours. "If our projects were restricted to a standard 40 hour work week, what should take 2 weeks could easily stretch into 3 or 4 weeks," he said.
Commissioners asked for more regular reporting. Commissioner Peppcorn requested a monthly summary of overtime by department and that future budgets include departmental overtime breakout lines. Several commissioners praised staff for transparency and asked finance to provide overtime estimates in the next budget cycle.
No policy changes were adopted Monday; staff said the city is continuing a human capital plan called "staffing for success" and will keep monitoring overtime drivers, recruitment and retention strategies, and the use of temporary or seasonal staff to reduce overtime pressure.
