Bridgeport police personnel dominate the list of top 100 municipal wage earners for 2015. Is there overtime abuse in the system?
- Yes, it's a problem that needs fixing. (68%, 184 Votes)
- It's a little of both. (17%, 47 Votes)
- No, the department is understaffed. (15%, 41 Votes)
Total Voters: 272
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If the department is understaffed and has been for several years without major attention, why do you not call it ‘system abuse’ and hold management accountable? And what does “a little of both” mean? With all the ‘leadership’ from Sergeants, through Lieutenants and Captains up to the highest professionals employed, including micro- or macro-management at City Hall, why has no one been held responsible for this “budget flat tire” we have been driving on for more than four years? Who has the data? How can we see it? Internal Overtime? Who gets it and how frequently and for what reasons? External Overtime? What is the current charge to contractors? Has it been changed since CT MERF pension benefits started being accrued and paid for former Pension B police? If not, is the formula out of date and what can be done about this drain on City revenues that would alternatively provide necessary City jobs, reduce benefit costs and lower the overall expenses for all kinds of road construction in the City? Time will tell.
JML,
Believe it or not, my understanding is the fee charged to contractors is limited by the Police Union contract and does not cover pension costs.
Well isn’t that something that is poorly understood if true (and I have no reason to doubt you based on your track record) but has been part of a CITY MYTH the charge to contractors includes a “profit” per hour to the City? Now if it is true the taxpayer in the City is solely paying the pension expense, basic, current, and past for the explosion in retiree incomes, it does provide another immediate reason to review this system with specific attention to the “safety” of the taxpayer, right? Isn’t everything subject to change, even if it is negotiated and even when it takes some time? As in the old Jack Benny video when the mugger points a gun at him and impatiently says: “Your money or your life!” and Benny responds: “I’m thinking. I’m thinking.” For the sake of our economic lives, shouldn’t we do some thinking? Time will tell.
Most of the police OT for road work is still paid for by the taxpayer. Who digs up the road? Utilities, road repair contractors, sewers, etc. If the road work is a city contract, the cost of police OT is built in to the contract. The contract is paid for by the city. The sewers are just an arm of the city. The cost of police OT to the utility companies is absorbed by the ratepayers, many of whom are BPT residents. There is no such thing as free money. Just let the utility companies hire a kid in an orange vest to direct traffic.
Then you have all the BPT supervisors scheduling their own OT. Why do we need an OT supervisor? Isn’t there already a duty supervisor on duty 24/7? If a supervisor works OT a patrolmen can do, why does he still get supervisor pay if the job he is performing does not demand supervisor duties? The job performed should dictate the pay scale, not the person performing the work. If a desk sergeant is out sick, that OT shift should pay at a desk sergeant’s OT rate if the person doing the work is a security guard or the chief of police. It makes no sense the OT cost of that position could vary from $40 to $140 per hour depending on who gets the OT.
*** It’s out of hand! ***
That is why this $10 million bill should be taken off the table and the bill should be presented to the Bridgeport Police Union, and they should be asked, “HOW ARE YOU GOING TO PAY FOR THIS?” The Flatto budget was being rushed through to pay and codify the $10 million, while everybody else was talking about Finch and whatever thousands he deposited on his last night as mayor.