Kids & Family

Overtime, Special Pays the Norm for Many City Employees

About 70 percent of full-time workers earned more than their stated salaries, according to 2010 data.

It’s no secret that working for the city can be a sweet deal.

There is pretty solid job security, a government pension and generous benefits. But working for the city of Petaluma also means that employees are often paid more than their stated annual salaries, the result of frequent overtime and special pays, such as working on a holiday or for a police officer who speaks another language or has special training.

An analysis of salaries of 315 full-time city employees by Petaluma Patch shows that some 70 percent earned more than their stated salaries in 2010, according to data from the state controller’s office, the most recent available.

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The biggest overtime payments, perhaps not surprisingly, were in the fire department, where employees took home an , the result of minimum staffing levels that recommend that 14 firefighters be on standby at any given time.

To see the data, click on the right

Find out what's happening in Petalumawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

At the police department, the average full-time employee took home an additional $24,000, while at Public Works, street and equipment maintenance workers collected an average of $8,500 more than their stated salaries, Petaluma Patch found.

For example, an inspection supervisor with an annual salary of $95,000 took home $130,000 in 2010 while a street maintenance worker, salaried at $59,000 per year earned $79,000 that same year, according to the state controller data.

Petaluma’s City Manager John Brown says the overtime costs are calculated into the budget and are just par for the course when it comes to running a city.

“We are dealing with round the clock operations and even then, to make sure you have coverage, there is going to be overtime that’s going to be spent,” Brown said. “For example, if you have an officer in the middle of a pursuit or responding to an incident of some kind, they can’t just say ‘My shift is over, I’m going home.’ They have to take someone to jail and book them.”

At Public Works, Brown attributed floods and other emergency repairs where maintenance workers had to be called out after hours.

“It’s not like these workers are just getting a check, they are actually working,” he said. “That’s time they are not spending with their families or out in the community doing what they want to.”

Salaries are often the biggest outlay for any city, but in light of growing pension and health care costs, Petaluma can almost certainly expect to be paying more toward compensation in the near future. Just this March, the California Public Employee Retirement System (CalPERS) board voted to lower annual returns from 7.75 percent to 7.5 percent.

On paper, it looks like a tiny change, but has resulted in increased obligations on public agencies to the tune of up to 6.5 percent more for public safety employees and 4.5 percent more for miscellaneous employees (that’s everyone who doesn’t wear a badge.)

Taken together, the decision will result in public agencies throughout the state shelling out a total of $303 million extra per year for payroll, digging into their general funds, emergency reserves and taking out loans at possibly unfavorable interest rates just to keep their cities from slipping into bankruptcy.

Back home, Petaluma expects to spend $18 million next year on salaries alone, 56 percent of the city’s $32 million budget. At , the council was reminded that it would soon be making painful choices in an effort to reduce spending, including potentially laying off a police dispatcher and animal control officer, reducing the length of summer camps along with the number of available firefighter paramedics (yes, that means you may very well wait longer once you’ve dialed 911).

Meanwhile, the city’s unfunded pension liabilities have increased to $28 million for public safety workers and $9 million for other city staff, according to a 2011 annual financial report. In other words, that's how much the city needs to pay its retired employees, but does not now have.

Amidst this dour backdrop, negotiations with labor groups have continued, where second tier retirement—getting new employees to accept less generous pension packages— is assumed to be taking center stage. Calls to both the peace officers’ and firefighters unions were not returned.

But even as employee groups are mum about what they are willing to give up and what they want in return, the numbers are resounding clear: the city can no longer afford business as usual.

What do you think the city should focus on? Pension reform? Attracting new business and development? Something else?


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