CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- A new report found that despite only trace amounts of snow in April, the Chicago Department of Streets and Sanitation spent over half its overtime budget for the year in that month.
The Lightfoot Administration budgeted $7.3 million for overtime for the Chicago Department of Streets and Sanitation for the entire year, but the department spent over half that in the month of April alone, despite the lack of snowflakes.
In April, the city was concerned about violence and used snow plows to block off streets to deter protests in the wake of police killings of Duante Wright, Adam Toledo, and the Derrick Chauvin verdict. This cost the city millions.
South Side Weekly reviewed Streets and San data and found over 11 days in April, department workers clocked more than 21,000 hours of overtime to the tune of $3.87 million. That's seven times more than the April average and came when the department was already over budget for overtime following heavy snow in January and February.
Heavy snowfall in January and February cost a combined $11 million. January had 21.9 inches of snow, and February had 21.6 inches.
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