The D.C. fire department failed to include seniority pay in its fiscal 2010 budget proposal, is on pace to more than double its overtime spending and is projected to run nearly $2 million short in fringe benefits — setting up a $11 million-plus shortfall for the year.
The Department of Fire and Emergency Medical Services spent $3.85 million on overtime in the first quarter and is on pace to pay out roughly $15.4 million for the fiscal year, nearly two and a half times its allotted $6.3 million.
“I don’t see how this cycle’s getting any better,” at-large Councilman Phil Mendelson, chairman of the D.C. Council’s public safety panel, said Wednesday during his latest oversight hearing into pay and overtime problems at FEMS. “Where’s the plan that shows how that number’s going to be reduced?”
The pot for fringe benefits is running $1.7 million short for the year, said Darryl Staats, FEMS fiscal officer. The department is shy another $1.1 million for salaries because the agency’s payroll software failed to include longevity pay — a payment to senior employees at the top of the scale — when it projected wages for the fiscal year.
FEMS payroll problems are emblematic of a government struggling to keep spending in check in lean times. Overtime is often the culprit, but there are other factors. The Child and Family Services Agency is expected to run $10 million short this year because of Medicaid billing problems, for example. United Medical Center in Southeast might need another city bailout to stay open.
Chief Financial Officer Natwar Gandhi is projecting a $17.1 million shortfall in fiscal 2010. That does not include roughly $80 million in “spending pressures,” like the fire department faces, which occur when an agency’s spending outruns its budget.
“Although efforts to control overtime spending continue, our effectiveness is limited by the large number of frozen operational vacancies that restrict our ability to hire new employees and result in paying overtime to fill vacant positions,” Alfred Jeffery III, assistant fire chief of support services, told Mendelson’s committee.
More than three-quarters of the FEMS $180 million budget is allotted for salary for 2,000-plus employees. The best way to cut overtime is to fully staff the department, Jeffery said, but FEMS has 130 frozen positions that it cannot afford to fill.
There are 28 individuals in the current recruit class, Jeffery said, but the department will lose more than that through attrition before the recruits are available in August.
» 96 employees reported pay problems in the past month.
» Of 59 resolved, 41 resulted in additional pay owed to employees.
» 37 cases are still active.
