Overtime sending budgets up in flames

Overtime costs for Clark County firefighters keep flaring up like a stubborn blaze.

As the recession squeezes property tax revenue, the county is looking harder for ways to reduce firefighters' overtime, which last year grew to almost 15 times what it was in 2001.

Fire Department and union officials say some overtime is unavoidable, because fire crews must be ready to respond to emergencies 24 hours a day, year round. Overtime can be less costly than hiring more firefighters and paying for benefits and training, they say.

But a conservative think tank argues that overtime has become excessive. Some county leaders, including the fire chief, agree that it should be reined in and have begun taking steps to do that.

Trouble is, much has happened in eight years to pump up overtime and make it difficult to slash, including yearly pay raises, elimination of reserve staff, growth in the department's work force and new laws that make it easier for firefighters to take sick leave, Fire Chief Steve Smith said.

"Since 2001, the world has changed," Smith said.

In a study last year, the Nevada Policy Research Institute pointed to 523 of the Fire Department's 770 employees earning more than $100,000 a year in 2007, in part because of overtime.

That's about double the county's median household income of $53,000, according to the 2007 Las Vegas Perspective, a yearly publication that tracks economic trends.

Three employees rang up $100,000 just in overtime and call-back pay, while 114 exceeded $50,000 for the added pay.

One medical services supervisor made $232,000, topping the county manager's $207,000 salary and dwarfing the governor's $141,000 salary.

Smith said the supervisor was working both his job and another medical services job left vacant.

But one critic argued the bigger problem is six-figure salaries becoming the norm.

Those wages show that overtime is not always cheaper than adding firefighters, said Geoffrey Lawrence, an analyst with the Nevada Policy Research Institute.

"When you're over $100,000 to an employee just for overtime, you're clearly better off just hiring a new employee," he said.

Lawrence said remedies are overdue.

In the past decade, overtime has swelled dramatically, he said, citing a county audit.

Firefighters racked up about $14.5 million in overtime for fiscal year 2008, up from $12.7 million in 2007, according to a county report.

Going back further, overtime was $1 million in 2001, $5 million in 2002 and $9.5 million in 2004, Lawrence said.

Smith noted that the department's staff has grown to 805 employees, enlarging the payroll since the study was done.

Still, overtime made up 18.5 percent of the department's total salaries of $78.2 million last year, up from 17.7 percent of the $72.2 million in salaries for 2007.

That's much better than Ventura County, in Southern California, where overtime made up 29 percent of its firefighters' payroll last year. But it far exceeds Seattle, which kept overtime to less than 10 percent of its firefighters' wages.

County Commissioner Tom Collins said there's a definite need to improve. Overtime should not exceed 12 percent of payroll costs for a fire department this size, he said.

"It's too high," Collins said.

The county should beef up staffing to ease the strain on firefighters, reduce overtime and ensure the crews run efficiently, he said.

Other county commissioners echoed Collins' sentiment, saying that curbing overtime is crucial in a tight budget year. Several said they would consider adding firefighters if that will save money and enhance public safety.

"We've got to get a handle on that," Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani said. "I would be in favor of hiring more people."

Every sizable firehouse in the country wrestles with the question of whether it's more cost-efficient to run a larger staff or pay more overtime, said Lori Moore-Merrell, national labor researcher for the International Association of Fire Fighters, which represents Clark County's firefighters.

A firefighter's work schedule makes it more challenging to find that line, she said.

Firefighters are on duty for 24 hours, then off 24 hours, she said. They work three to five of those cycles in a row, then take three to six consecutive days off, depending on the jurisdiction and union contract.

"That's what is required to give people the services they want," Moore-Merrell said.

The union prefers that fire departments hire adequate staff rather than jack up overtime and push workers too hard, she said.

Seattle has minimized overtime by staffing sufficiently, and so has Memphis, Tenn., she said.

Running a thinner staff can exhaust firefighters, making them more prone to illness and injury, Moore-Merrell said. That feeds a vicious cycle of absenteeism and increased stress on co-workers who must work extra shifts until they're hurt or sick, she said.

RESERVE STAFF PROPOSED

Smith said he can show that expanding the work force would curtail overtime.

At a county budget meeting Tuesday, he will ask county leaders for money to create a 21-person reserve staff to fill in when firefighters miss work because of illness, injury or vacation.

The reserve staff would get regular pay instead of time and a half, and the department would save $850,000 in yearly labor costs, he said.

The idea is to start with a small reserve team and, when it shows results, ask for a larger one.

"We know that overtime is a concern for the public and us," Smith said, calling the proposal a good first step.

Smith noted that county fire stations in 2001 were staffed with 21 employees, three of whom covered for those who missed work.

The county later whittled staffing to 18 firefighters, the bare minimum needed to run a station, he said. After that, if a firefighter called in sick, a replacement had to be paid overtime, Smith said.

Firefighters work 24-hour shifts, so overtime can escalate quickly if co-workers receive time-and-a-half to fill in, he said.

Smith said he couldn't say what a realistic goal would be for shrinking overtime. It would be impossible, though, to knock it down to anything close to the $1 million of 2001, he said.

The county has added an average of one fire station a year, and base wages for firefighters have risen an average of 5 percent each year, according to county records.

Smith also said firefighters began using more sick leave in part because federal labor laws changed.

Under the Family and Medical Leave Act, a doctor's note covers three missed shifts, whereas in the past a firefighter could be disciplined for being absent that much, he said.

The culture within fire departments also changed; and it became more accepted for firefighters to call in sick not only for themselves, but to tend to an ill child, he said.

Smith, 52, recalled that when he was on a crew, firefighters only missed work when they were truly incapacitated, and even then they would get razzed.

"It was a code of honor," Smith said.

However, a union leader stated in an e-mail that he had never heard of overtime ballooning because firefighters were using more sick leave.

"I cannot corroborate the fire chief's position on this matter, since (neither) the issue nor have the facts regarding the usage been made available to me," wrote Ryan Beaman, president of the International Association of Firefighters Local 1908.

Sick time taken through the Family Leave Act is carefully monitored and must be approved by the county's human resources office, Beaman said.

The law covers specific documented illnesses and not the random sick call, he said.

Beaman said longtime policy is more to blame for overtime rising. County leaders have stated repeatedly that paying overtime costs less than hiring firefighters, but they can always reverse their position and add more staff, he said.

AUDITOR SUGGESTIONS

Lawrence, the think tank analyst, said the Fire Department compounded its overtime problem when it failed to follow suggestions made by a county auditor a few years ago.

The auditor recommended that all overtime be pre-approved, that the department be audited by an outside agency, and that the yearly budget include a detailed analysis of overtime, he said.

But department spokesman Scott Allison said supervisors approve all extra shifts in advance, and firefighters can't claim unauthorized overtime.

Don Burnette, the county's chief administrative officer, said the county saw no need to hire a consultant to audit the department because it took its own internal audit seriously.

And since May 2008, the county has analyzed overtime in every department, including fire, to reduce costs in the tougher economy, Burnette said. This year, firefighters' overtime is on pace to be $700,000 less than last year, he said, crediting the closer scrutiny.

"I think we've done a much better job of it since we went into cost containment," Burnette said.

Lawrence had another suggestion to snip overtime: Put more employees, especially supervisors, on salary. Only a couple dozen of the department's employees are salaried and ineligible for overtime, he said.

However, a union representative said that tactic would be illegal.

Federal rules are strict about which employees can be hourly and which can be salaried, said Moore-Merrell, the national labor researcher.

Clark County firefighters work a 53-hour week averaged over a 28-day period before they qualify for overtime, Allison said, noting that's the federal standard.

Unlike a typical workplace, a fire station can't run short one person, because that could prove dangerous during a blaze or medical emergency, Allison said.

The county's union contract, which is in line with the industry standard, calls for at least four firefighters on a truck, four on an engine and two in a medical vehicle, Smith said.

A longtime budget policy allows an average of one new fire station per year to be added to meet the area's growth, Smith said. That means the department is allocated money for 18 new firefighting jobs a year, just enough to get by.

"It's not like we have a second string," Allison said. "Until the county says we can hire for every position and have extra bodies, there will be overtime."

Contact reporter Scott Wyland at swyland@reviewjournal.com or 702-455-4519.