New York state agencies racked up more than $316 million in overtime in the first six months of 2014, continuing a recent trend of sharply higher overtime costs for taxpayers.
The startling numbers come from a mid-year report issued Tuesday by state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, who says the increase is troubling and should be addressed. Spending has skyrocketed $22 million over the same period in 2013.
The Office for People with Disabilities worked the most overtime, while the Department of Corrections had the biggest overtime costs. Overall, DiNapoli's office says that so far this year, state employees have worked more than 7.8 million overtime hours.
John Traylor is the Executive Deputy Comptroller for Operations. " the Department of Corrections, Office of Mental Health, the Office for Persons with Developmental Disabilities, all of whom provide institutional care to our citizens, they constitute the largest part of overtime spending and certainly had increased costs. They face such things as mandatory staffing ratios and other programmatic needs that really require them sometimes to spend overtime."
The bulk of 2014 overtime costs to date are being borne by the aforementioned departments (the Department of Corrections, Office of Mental Health, Office for People with Developmental Disabilities) plus the Department of Taxation and Finance. The four combined account for 97.6 percent of the state's overtime spending.
Comparison of Overtime Earnings by Agency
The Comptroller's office the highest increase in O.T. was at the Department of Taxation and Finance, up 128 percent, attributed to problems with the processing of paper returns.
Cuomo administration spokesman Rich Azzopardi defends state agencies. “During the past four years, the governor has succeeded in creating a more effective and less costly state government. This year, we are spending $588 million less in personnel costs — which includes overtime — than the last year of the previous administration. All state agencies are within their current budgets, which has remained flat for the past three years. Overtime is used carefully and only when needed. The alternative would be a larger, more expensive, state bureaucracy that New York taxpayers can no longer afford.”
Nontheless, DiNapoli's office warns, that if left unchecked, overtime in 2014 could eclipse last year's $611 million record. So Traylor says they'll be watching. "We will continue to monitor spending for the remainder of the fiscal year. Occasionally where we have concerns about a particular type of agency operation, we might go in as part of our routine audits of state agencies, and take a look at this issue. But its certainly our hope that the executive branch will take this information and certainly look into the causes of the overtime and better manage these costs."
comp_ot_Comparison of Overtime Hours by Agency
Overtime-eligible state workers receive 1½ times their regular pay, which in turn affects pension payout calculations.
