Milpitas review finds overtime tied to leave, staffing and wildfire deployments; chiefs cite controls and relief pool

City staff and department chiefs presented preliminary findings from a consultant review of police and fire overtime. The review found that overtime trends broadly correlate with leave hours (vacation, injury, worker's comp) and staffing levels.

Police leaders said overtime is tightly controlled through supervisor authorization and scheduling overlap, and the department uses a measured approach to fill shifts. Fire Chief Jason Schoonover explained that overtime is closely tracked, that recent spikes corresponded to active wildland deployments (which the state largely reimburses), and that the city uses a relief/floater firefighter pool to mitigate recurring overtime costs. The chief estimated that losing a firefighter long-term on workers'comp can equate to roughly 2,500 overtime hours and that wildfire deployments include reimbursement for overtime and apparatus costs that in some cases offset or exceed local overtime expenses.

Council members discussed whether staffing models, workers'comp claim management and reimbursement strategies could reduce overtime exposure. Staff noted several ongoing actions: a workers'comp process assessment, a third-party care management program intended to accelerate return-to-duty, and efforts to analyze administrative-fee rates for state reimbursement of mutual-aid deployments. Staff said some reimbursement opportunities (administrative fee percentage) require additional administrative capacity to pursue.