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SCHENECTADY
Police OT pits real vs. paper numbers
BY KATHLEEN MOORE Gazette Reporter
Reach Gazette reporter Kathleen Moore at 395-3120 or moore@dailygazette.com.

    The Police Department spent more than twice what it was budgeted in overtime last year, but Chief Mark Chaires pointed to irresponsible budgeting as part of the problem.
    In 2011, the detectives unit was budgeted to spend $300,000 in overtime, when it usually spends an average of $680,000, he said. The division finished 2011 with $710,000 in overtime spending.
    Chaires noted the overtime total was nearly the same as it had been in 2009 and 2010. The only thing that changed, he said, was the budget drawn up by the Schenectady City Council.
    “There was a drastic reduction in overtime funds,” he said Monday during the audit presentation.
    Chaires changed overtime policies that reduced investigative overtime in 2009 from $900,000 to $680,000. Among the changes: Detectives were asked to schedule raids during their normal shifts and to get approval before working overtime.
    “Investigative overtime, that’s discretionary. You can control that a little better,” he said.
    But he said there was no way to cut that overtime to $300,000.
    The patrol division also overspent its overtime line, which was capped at $500,000 last year. The division spent $1.3 million.
    “It’s typically over $1 million,” Chaires said, adding that there’s not much he can do to reduce it. “That’s driven by sick time, comp time.”
    There were many vacancies last year, too, requiring officers to routinely work double shifts to keep up the minimum platoon strengths.
    In the past, the Police Department has transferred salaries of vacant positions to the overtime budget line, allowing it to balance out overtime with the money they would have spent on a new offi cer’s salary.
    But last year, that wasn’t allowed.
    “We just couldn’t balance it out with salary,” Chaires said. “Because of the financial situation, all vacancies, as soon as they left, their salary was taken out of the budget.”
    By making such cuts, the city reduced costs in its overall budget by $5.5 million, even after taking into account the overspending by the Police Department, which exceeded its overtime budgets by more than $1.2 million.
    While Chaires said he simply spent what he normally spends on overtime, the council’s Finance Committee chairman said he had wanted the chief to cut his overtime usage when the budgeted amount was cut.
    “I understand there are certain emergencies. We had the hurricane — you needed more guys that week,” Councilman Carl Erikson said. “But generally speaking, $900,000 in overtime seems excessive.”
    Erikson called it a management problem. ......................>>>>.............................>>>>...................................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r01302&AppName=1

This is happening in every Northeast City? lol. It is what it is and it's nobody's fault. No leadership, no budget, big problemo.

And you wonder why the city is in trouble.....no one watching the pot......like to see someone in any government handle the cash flow....

where in private business this doesn't happen.....NOT.........monitor....monitor....monitor.....

and who controlled that budget???.....was it JP.....and if it was....quess where JP is now????????????????

This is what happens when the fox is allowed to guard the hen house.

This is what happens when you allow your opinion to be swayed by a notoriously inaccurate reporter.

The Chief never said the Council gave the PD an irresponsible budget.  He said - the overtime budget was reduced drastically,  and that they could not
compensate for those reductions because they did not have the benefit of vaacnt salaries.  He clearly said the reductions were a result of the fiscal
crisis - never once blamed the Cuoncil or called them irresponsible.  And, he stated that this was caused in large part due to the City's
retirement incentives.  And, importantly he said the short term pain would result in long term gain - in that by 2013, 1/3 of workforce would be Tier 5
employees.

So, if that's true Visitor (I frankly believe little of what comes off the DG presses myself) - why hasn't the Chief or PR dept called them out on this?  Why aren't they using the DG to clear up the misunderstanding?

According to Visitor this is not a major problem. Neither is having City employees commute for Lake Luzerne in City vehicles. How come McMayor has a $6 MILLION deficit in the one year since he took over? Keep the DEM implosion going-"this is happening in every Northeast City" {that is controlled by DEM morons}. No reason to actually budget nor vote in someone new with actual business experience.

I think that whomever came up with this budget thought they meant budget as in cheap or of poor quality and not the financial term budget for spending limits.  This budget wasnt worth the paper it was printed on.  Not even close.  They need to outsource the "budgeting" process.  

Well McCarthy has painted himself into a corner now.  He owns the whole bus.  Has for a long time but now he really owns it.  He says it will be a 24 to 30 month process......should be interesting seeing the proposed 2013 budget!

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  The Police Department spent more than twice what it was budgeted in overtime last year, but Chief Mark Chaires pointed to irresponsible budgeting as part of the problem.

So Chaires is responsible for being irresponsible.......yes? Who submits the police budget? Who accepts the police budget? Who puts it into the city budget?

If each department head submits their budget......then it falls squarely on the chief......no?

The Conservative Party is a party of political opportunist.  They may see the political landscape changing in the city and may want to hitch their wagon to the Alliance Party.  It is inevitable the city needs to cut spending; the Democrats squeezed every penny out of the city homeowners.  The Conservative Party is going to throw their support behind the next probable governing majority.  For a fee of course - a promise the cuts won't come out of the police department.

From the "budget" submited last year, you will notice that the 2010 Amounts are well above the 2011 Adopted and Depatment Requests.  You can also see that the 2012 Mayors was also way more "giving".  Ole Boys Club.

                                                                      2010           2011               2012               2012
Org                                                        Actual          Adopted     Dept Requested     Mayors
Police Communications                                                        
A3121     112     Overtime                 303,595          150,000          250,000          250,000
Police Field Service Bureau                                                      
A3122     112     Overtime                 1,116,906          500,000          880,000          800,000
Police Investigation                                                        
A3123     112     Overtime                 743,142          300,000          650,000          600,000
Police Support Services Bureau                                                      
A3124     112     Overtime                 12,408          1,000          5,000          5,000
Police Personnel Management Bureau                                                      
A3125     112     Overtime                 37,432          15,000          8,000          8,000

I bet if the judges did a better job the OT might go down.  

Quoted from TakingItBack

I bet if the judges did a better job the OT might go down.  

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha......

Quoted from Patches

And you wonder why the city is in trouble.....no one watching the pot......like to see someone in any government handle the cash flow....

where in private business this doesn't happen.....NOT.........monitor....monitor....monitor.....

and who controlled that budget???.....was it JP.....and if it was....quess where JP is now????????????????

When someone gives you $300,000 to spend, how exactly do you spend $700,000.

I really want to learn this trick, so I can spend double what I have saved.

The obvious solution would be to let the dam checks bounce when they reach their budget limit.

Very soon more than half the budget will be for former employees and their benefits.

You can't cut the amount the retirees get, so if you cut the budget, it all comes out of the half of the budget being used for current employees.