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Officials debate hiring versus overtime as fire and police overtime drives costs
Summary
Officials reviewed overtime reports (three departments), discussed recent spikes and declines, and compared the short‑term cost of covering shifts with overtime versus the full loaded cost of hiring new staff; the board noted that upcoming hires and training schedules could reduce overtime pressure.
Board members and staff spent a substantial portion of the meeting reviewing overtime costs, staffing shortages and the relative economics of hiring versus covering shifts with overtime.
Jada said she printed overtime sheets for three departments and cited totals in the packet. “I did print out overtime sheets for the three departments,” she said, and the transcript lists figures that were discussed in context (transcript references include '155,000' and '32,000' as reported totals). Members noted that overtime increased when employees used vacation time before leaving and during training periods when new hires were in the academy.
Officials compared the short‑term expense of paying overtime to the loaded annual cost of new hires. One example discussed in the meeting compared covering a block of hours with overtime at roughly $4,000 versus hiring four equivalent staff whose combined loaded annual cost would be about $104,000 (the transcript walked through these illustrative figures and training costs). Members also noted additional recruitment, academy and training expenses and that an officer identified as Alex is expected to be cleared for patrol in October — a development some members said should reduce overtime burdens.
The board discussed operational impacts — for example, that a single absence can represent a significant percentage of the roster in a small department — and asked staff to continue producing detailed overtime and budget‑to‑actual reports so the board can evaluate hiring, transfers, or other retention incentives.
Next steps: Staff agreed to provide more granular payroll and overtime figures for each department for board review; no hiring commitments were made at the meeting.
