California's Red Bluff City Council is struggling with budget concerns and is faced with public safety issues as a result of overtime-pay allocation problems. Because of the lack of overtime hours approved by the City Council, the fire department has reduced its definition of full staffing from 4-person to 2-person shifts, and has been unable to provide a firefighter on site at Red Bluff High School football games.

On Oct. 8, the council approved budget appropriations to cover $26,500 in overtime pay for firefighters, only about half of the $50,500 Fire Chief Jon Bennett initially requested. Bennett's request is similar to that made by the city Police Department for $95,793 of supplemental overtime pay in September.

In an interview with the Red Bluff Daily News, Bennett said the overtime budget had been reduced due to the 2008 recession, and while workers had been provided salary increases in their new contracts, the overtime allocation remained at the same level, leading to the current budgeting issues.

Prior to the approval for additional overtime pay, the city's projected deficit for the year was expected to be $250,983.

Proper allocation of resources can be difficult, especially when organizations are faced with budget constraints. In addition to fully functioning time and attendance software, it is important to carefully allocate resources so that overtime hours can be properly compensated.

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