Public Safety Official Tops the List of New Brunswick Officials Earning the Most Overtime

The list of New Brunswick employees with the highest overtime pay last year is dominated by police officers and firefighters. But at the top of the list is a guy who makes his living in a different form of public safety.

Kenneth Krug, New Brunswick’s electrical inspector and fire subcode official, made $26,293 in overtime in 2010, about 25 percent more than the next closest municipal employee, according to city records.

Krug, whose regular pay in 2010 was $89,352, again is on pace to be New Brunswick’s top overtime earner. In the first six months of 2011, Krug collected $13,625 in overtime, the records show. But so far, this year, his edge over the second person on the list isn’t as large – a mere $861.

“He wears several hats,’’ said city spokesman Bill Bray, when asked about Krug’s standing at the top of the municipal overtime list.

Among his duties, Krug inspects building renovation and construction jobs, does site visits in response to people’s housing safety complaints, and reviews planning office blueprints to make sure they comply with municipal codes.

Bray said Krug’s overtime flows from several factors. First of all, Krug gets called in to work when fire safety code complaints and violations arise after hours.

“He has to determine if the buildings are safe to live in or not,’’ said Bray.

Secondly, Bray said Krug works an extra five or six hours on Saturdays to review building and construction plans submitted to the city for its approval.

When asked why Krug doesn’t conduct the plan reviews during the regular work week, Bray said, “He has all the other things he has to do.’’

Finally, Krug works nights now and then to give expert testimony, either at city planning and zoning board meetings on pending applications or in municipal court on alleged violations.

Despite all those tasks resting on Krug’s shoulders, Bray said there’s no need to hire an additional person.

“We’re good at our current staffing level,’’ he said.

But Patricia Bombelyn, who lost the Democratic mayoral primary to Mayor Jim Cahill last year, questioned the overtime paid to Krug.  

“If overtime is a constant portion of a highly paid professional’s salary, something is seriously wrong,’’ Bombelyn said. “Responsible government will look out for the tax-payers’ interests by ensuring that highly paid professionals are on a salary that does not incur overtime for their professional services.’’

The construction code department actually is a money-maker for New Brunswick, Bray said. In 2010, he said, the city collected $752,000 in construction fees, while the department’s entire budget was $427,711, including the $26,293 in overtime paid to Krug.

“We’re getting a good return on our investment," Bray said.

Bray declined to make Krug available for an interview for this story.

“I’m not putting any of our employees on the spot to justify their existence,’’ said Bray. “That’s not what they’re paid for. That’s what I’m paid for.’’

Krug, a city employee since 1993, is a member of the Municipal Employees Association (MEA), the union that represents all rank-and-file city workers, except for those in the fire and police departments.

“I know he has to read the blueprints and everything,’’ said Martin Arocho, the MEA president, when asked about Krug’s overtime. “Sometimes he has to stay after hours to go out to the buildings.’’

But Arocho said he wasn’t aware of any arrangement under which Krug routinely works on Saturdays.

Krug works in the city’s five-person construction code division. Last year, he made 80 percent of the $32,858 in overtime paid to division employees, city records show. In the first six months of this year, he was on pace to collect the same percentage of the division’s OT.

The division’s highest paid employee, construction official William Schrum, made no overtime between January 1, 2010 and June 30, 2011, the records show. Neither did building subcode official Leopold Marmurczak. Schrum’s 2010 pay was $97,782, while Marmurczak’s was $71,349.

City payroll records for 2010 provided to New Brunswick Patch through an Open Public Records Act request indicate that 27 of the 30 municipal employees with the highest overtime earnings were from the fire and police departments. Besides Krug, the other two civilians who made the top 30 list were supervisors for the water utilities.
Here’s the top 10 in 2010 OT earnings:

1. Krug.
2. Police Lt. Michael Bobadilla, with $20,922 in OT on top of a $132,863 salary.
3. Police Officer Mark Pappas, with $19,017 in OT on top of a $98,204 salary.
4. Police Officer James Bobadilla, with $16,717 in OT on top of a $98,826 salary.
5. Police Officer Charles Savoth, with $15,884 in OT on top of a $106,191 salary.
6. Water Utility Supervisor Willie Weaver, with $15,373 in OT on top of a $54,041 salary.
7. Police Officer Daniel Dominguez Jr., with $14,946 in OT on top of a $103,050 salary.
8. Assistant Water Utility Supervisor Richard Procanik, with $14,898 in OT on top of a $47,121 salary.
9. Police Officer Kennth Abode, with $14,569 in OT on top of a $98,826 salary.
10. Deputy Fire Chief Thomas Dobkowski, with $14,481 in OT on top of a $139,778 salary.

Bray said Mayor Jim Cahill’s administration is proud of its achievements in cutting city overtime in recent years. Municipal overtime has plummeted from $2,365,028 in 2006 to $1,240,257 in 2010, representing a 47-percent reduction over that time period, according to Bray.

Those savings were achieved through a variety of measures, including hiring extra workers, reshuffling work schedules and an old-fashioned “just say no” policy towards approving OT for non-public safety workers, officials said.

“The mayor keeps a very close eye on overtime in all his departments,’’ said Bray.

The administration focuses on “the forest” by trying to reduce overall overtime numbers, without getting caught up in “the trees’’ and worrying about which individual workers make more OT than others, Bray said.

In Krug’s case, Bray said, the extra hours he has put in during recent years have helped the city’s revitalization.

“It produces a service to the business community and residential community,’’ Bray said. “He helps us expedite our plan reviews, which enables us to get permits issued in more timely fashion.”