RivCo Agencies Struggle to Contain Overtime Costs

By Paul J. Young, City News Service:

Multiple Riverside County agencies appear to be waging a losing battle to contain overtime costs, according to a report that the Board of Supervisors reviewed Tuesday.

Auditor-Controller Paul Angulo presented his annual Overtime Monitoring Report, which indicated that the District Attorney's Office and the Sheriff's, Fire, Mental Health and Public Social Services departments are in a steady uptrend of rising OT expenses based on outflows over the last five fiscal years.

"Unchecked, overtime will deal a body blow to the whole function of the organization," Angulo said. "These are real dollars, and that's a helluva lot of money that could've been used in other areas."

The sheriff's department had the highest overtime obligations in fiscal year 2014-15, totaling $37.9 million, although the amount was about $700,000 less than the prior fiscal year. According to a five-year trend line originating in 2010-11, sheriff's overtime payments shot up a total 56 percent.

Sheriff's officials pointed out that in 2014-15, 60 percent of OT expenses were reimbursed to the department by the 17 cities that contract with the agency for law enforcement services. But that still left $13.5 million that had to be covered directly by the county.

"This is unsustainable," Angulo said. "I'd like to challenge sheriff's managers to step up to the plate."

The D.A.'s office reported a 34 percent increase in overtime obligations between 2010-11 and 2014-15. According to Auditor-Controller's Office figures, the District Attorney's Office paid out $1.23 million in OT in the previous fiscal year.

According to a statement from the agency, staff commitments had grown as prosecutors and investigators worked to "fulfill mandated expectations," requiring extra hours on the job. The bulk of the overtime was incurred by the D.A.'s investigative staff.

Supervisor Marion Ashley minimized District Attorney Mike Hestrin's responsibility, noting that the last half of 2014-15 was his first six months at the helm.

The fire department's overtime outgo was 57 percent, according to Angulo. In the previous fiscal year, payments totaled $1.44 million, compared to $919,565 in 2010-11.

Fire Chief John Hawkins attributed the expenses to high demands on dispatch staff, "turnover in our Emergency Command Center" and higher workloads carried by fleet, facility maintenance and communications personnel.

The Department of Mental Health recorded a 52 percent increase in OT obligations over five years. The total was $1.62 million in 2014-15. Agency officials blamed "staffing shortages," particularly among psychiatry professionals, for the overrun.

The Department of Public Social Services saw overtime expenses balloon 72 percent in the five-year period ending June 2015, when OT costs reached $7.4 million. Most of the agency's budget is dependent on federal and state outlays.

DPSS staff pointed to union-negotiated salary increases and expanded caseloads related to foster care, elder care, adoptions assistance and Medi-Cal patients as some of the reasons for the upward spiral.

Meantime, overtime trend lines were headed down significantly, netting savings, in the Probation Department and at county-run Riverside University Medical Center.

The Department of Information Technology's five-year OT cost trend was up. However, data showed that the agency managed to knock its OT outgo down by 24 percent between fiscal years 2013-14 and 2014-15, a marked improvement.

"We should review this data on a quarterly basis," said Supervisor Kevin Jeffries. "We need to really drill down into departments' budgets to find where the challenges are going forward."

On March 29, the board is slated to receive reports on several audits detailing where improvements could be applied to scale down public safety expenditures.

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