The three Montgomery County agencies that hand out the most overtime pay — the Montgomery County Police Department, Fire and Rescue Services and Department of Transportation — exceeded their overtime budgets last fiscal year, county officials said Tuesday.
Although officials attributed the excess spending to understaffing, they also said the county did not budget for overtime pay for the U.S. Open, which was held in June at the Congressional Country Club in Bethesda and required all three agencies to pay staff overtime.
“I have been struggling to understand: Why are we so off on the budget?” Chief Administrative Officer Tim Firestine asked Fire Chief Richard Bowers at Tuesday’s meeting. “We can’t assume we’re going to spend less … without adjusting our service levels.”
But Bowers and the other department heads said they need a certain number of people working in order to meet safety needs, even if that means paying overtime.
“I don’t have enough officers,” Bowers said. “I don’t have enough paramedics.”
Fire and Rescue spent 47 percent — or $4.6 million — more than its budget, $68,338 of which went to the U.S. Open. That was an increase of 8.8 percent over the previous year’s spending and 15.9 percent over fiscal 2009.
The Department of Transportation went about $3 million over its $4 million budget. Transportation Director Arthur Holmes attributed about $2.8 million of the extra spending to storms and about $145,526 to the U.S. Open.
The Police Department exceeded its budget by $282,530, which represents about 3 percent of its overtime budget, but the agency had to cover $917,572 in unbudgeted overtime costs — $617,223 from the U.S. Open and the rest as a result of an increased police presence in downtown Silver Spring.
The department was able to save some money through legislative and procedural changes that eliminated some of police officers’ court appearances, Police Chief Thomas Manger said.
The U.S. Open is reimbursing the county $57,136 for police expenses, said Beryl Feinberg, a manager in the county’s Office of Management and Budget.
But even without the U.S. Open, the Police Department spent slightly more — 2.5 percent — than last year.
Firestine told The Washington Examiner he didn’t know why the county had not anticipated more overtime expenses for the U.S. Open.
Manger said the decision not to budget overtime for the golf tournament was made by the county’s OMB.
Since the county creates its budget in May of the previous year, the county didn’t know how much to budget for the U.S. Open, Feinberg said, and it wouldn’t have been appropriate to over-appropriate funding.
Although the county has not closed fiscal 2011 yet, she said she doesn’t anticipate a problem filling budget gaps since some county departments spend less than they budgeted.
“We will balance the budget. We do every year.”
