PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The City of Philadelphia spent a record $258 million on overtime in the last year — an increase of more than 40% from the year before. The increase is concerning for the state watchdog that oversees the city budget.
The Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority (PICA) has been tracking overtime since 2014, and it’s been steadily increasing. The Great Resignation after COVID-19 saw nearly 3,000 city employees leave government. While federal funds rescued the city budget, there was no money for employee recruitment and retention.
PICA Executive Director Harvey Rice said it’s not just the amount the city is spending but its failure to budget for it.
“In a year and a half, the federal money will run out, will be gone. If those overtime costs persist, we’re going to have a problem with the budget,” he said.
RELATED
City officials blame a worker shortage that created an 18% vacancy rate. Rice is not completely convinced staff shortages alone are driving the overtime. He approves of the steps the city is taking but wants to see results.
“We want to see, as staffing increases, overtime decreases,” he said, “and if we don’t, we’re going to require the city to go back to the table and give us more overtime action plans.”
City of Philadelphia Chief Administrative Officer Stephanie Tipton said the worker shortage is especially felt in public safety departments that have mandated staffing levels. Police and fire account for 70% of overtime spending.
“When we don’t have people in the jobs, when we do have mandated staffing, when we do have services we have to provide, there’s no other choice but to use overtime,” she said.
RELATED
Tipton noted overtime doesn’t necessarily mean over budget, since staffing funds are underused. Nonetheless, she said the city wants to be up to full staff.
“There has been an incredible investment over the last year to help us do just that,” she added.
Still, PICA wants to see action to reduce overtime. Philadelphia Human Resources Director Michael Zaccagni said the city has already made changes with a centralized recruiting staff, new perks such as free transit and expanded parental leave, and money for a recruitment campaign.
“Younger people are really looking for meaning in their work,” he said. “I think we can present that. We have to get out there and get that message out.”
Related
Related
