Board committee hears audit of SFPD overtime, forwards ordinance to full board without recommendation

The Budget and Appropriation Committee on April 30 reviewed a Budget and Legislative Analyst (BLA) performance audit that found systemic problems in the San Francisco Police Department’s management of overtime and then moved an ordinance reallocating salary savings to pay for projected overtime at both the police and sheriff’s departments to the full Board of Supervisors without recommendation.

The audit, presented by Nick Menard of the Budget and Legislative Analyst’s Office, covered overtime from July 2018 through June 2023 and identified five findings and 30 recommendations to improve oversight and controls. Menard told the committee, “We have 5 findings and 30 recommendations to improve overtime,” and said the audit found that overtime had “tripled” during the review period even as total hours worked fell with a 21% drop in sworn staffing.

Why it matters: the audit describes concentrated overtime use, rising sick leave, and weak enforcement of eligibility rules that together drive expensive backfill overtime paid from the general fund. The committee’s action on the ordinance will move roughly $86.6 million in expected salary and fringe savings into overtime lines and draw $5.4 million from the general reserve so departments can pay overtime already worked or projected this fiscal year.

Audit findings and BLA evidence

The audit reported that in fiscal 2022–23 SFPD posted roughly $108.4 million in overtime and that about 12% of sworn staff accounted for roughly one‑third of overtime hours. The BLA found sick leave per officer rose about 77% over five years and identified patterns (regular days off, weekend call‑ins coinciding with voluntary private…