Harrisburg Fire Bureau grapples with high overtime employee attendance
Overtime employee attendance payouts for members of Pennsylvania's Harrisburg Fire Bureau have steadily increased over the past three years, according to the Patriot-News.
At a time when the city is struggling to cut costs by renegotiating union contracts, high-earning firefighters are attracting criticism from mayor Linda Thompson and other officials.
"You have a minimum mandatory overtime out the gate of two hours," Thompson told fire union president Eric Jenkins at a recent town forum, as quoted by the news source. "You don't pay a dime for your health care benefits. This city cannot sustain itself like that."
Last year, nine city firefighters took home more than $100,000 in overtime, with at least another 14 others racking up $20,000 or more.
According to Jenkins, the department is currently staffed by 70 firefighters - "the lowest it's ever been," and a far cry from the average of 100 during the late 1990s. City controller Dan Miller noted that hiring more workers could reduce time and attendance costs.
Increasing hiring could have significantly reduced overtime costs for the Dallas Fire Department, according to the Dallas Morning News. A recent audit found that bringing on additional staff may have saved the department as much as $4.7 million between fiscal year 2008 and fiscal year 2010.
At a time when the city is struggling to cut costs by renegotiating union contracts, high-earning firefighters are attracting criticism from mayor Linda Thompson and other officials.
"You have a minimum mandatory overtime out the gate of two hours," Thompson told fire union president Eric Jenkins at a recent town forum, as quoted by the news source. "You don't pay a dime for your health care benefits. This city cannot sustain itself like that."
Last year, nine city firefighters took home more than $100,000 in overtime, with at least another 14 others racking up $20,000 or more.
According to Jenkins, the department is currently staffed by 70 firefighters - "the lowest it's ever been," and a far cry from the average of 100 during the late 1990s. City controller Dan Miller noted that hiring more workers could reduce time and attendance costs.
Increasing hiring could have significantly reduced overtime costs for the Dallas Fire Department, according to the Dallas Morning News. A recent audit found that bringing on additional staff may have saved the department as much as $4.7 million between fiscal year 2008 and fiscal year 2010.
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