NBC 4 Investigates City Overtime - Has Spending Decreased?

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- For the past several years, NBC 4 has repeatedly questioned Columbus city leaders about overtime expenditures, asking what could be done to lower costs.

It looks like this year, the questions have paid off, because the Department of Public Safety may have found the answer.

Through the first nine months of 2009, overtime expenses for the police and fire departments are down by more than $5 million over the last year. What changed?

It's a simple idea: online training. But in the Columbus Division of Fire, that simple idea helped the division cut overtime by more than $1.6 million so far in 2009 -- 35 percent less than last year.

"We have computers set up in every fire station so people can get on there and do their online training," said Columbus Division of Fire Battalion Chief David Whiting.

Whiting said that switching to online training is allowing firefighters to train inside their fire stations, leaving them able to respond to fire calls.

Last year, firefighters would have had to travel across town to attend mandatory training classes at administrative headquarters, while another firefighter would fill in for them at time-and-a-half pay.

But the overtime savings can be traced elsewhere as well.

"We're probably down about 40 firefighters right now, at least," Whiting said.

Without a class of firefighter recruits in 2009, recruiters, investigators and instructors who typically help at the fire academy were instead put back into companies to help curb costs. Those savings appear to be temporary though.

"Obviously when it comes time to have a recruit class, we're going to have to move some people back and our overtime may go up a little bit," Whiting said.

"You're always going to have overtime. We're never going to be to the point where we fully get rid of it. There's always going to be a need for it," said Dan Giangardella, Deputy Public Safety Director.

On the police side, Giangardella said Columbus Division of Police has cut more than $3.5 million in overtime costs through the first nine months of the year -- going from $7.7 million in 2008 to $4.1 million in 2009 -- by taking a harder look at overtime than in previous years.

One cost-saver came from working with local prosecutors to reduce the number of officers they call on to testify in court cases.

"Do we need all these officers to be subpoenaed or do we just need the ones who would be able to prove the best evidence if the case were to go to trail," Giangardella said.

Other savings came from summer festivals. Some festivals were staffed with fewer officers, while other festivals were canceled altogether.

A police call line was also automated to reduce civilian overtime by roughly $500,000.

Those savings may not continue in future years. With upcoming retirements, the police and fire ranks could be stretched thin and the overtime budget may rise again.

"I can't say right now whether we're going to have an increase in overtime next year or a decrease," Giangardella said.

The city is not tracking overtime with payroll coding, but that could change when a new payroll system is introduced next year.

PREVIOUS REPORT: NBC 4 Investigates City Overtime

See for yourself how the state is spending your money on overtime.

Below is a searchable database of City of Columbus employees’ overtime for 2008. Please search only for a name or department.

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