The Baltimore City Fire Department budgeted $6.1 million for overtime in 2006. Officers spent about $8.3 million ? or 36 percent more than budgeted, according to city salary and overtime records analyzed by The Examiner.
That?s a lot, but not anywhere near the more than 500 percent underestimate budgeted by the Baltimore City Police Department. The police administration claimed it would need $7 million in overtime in 2006, but used nearly $37 million, up from $18 million in 2005.
No one in the fire department came close in hours or overtime pay to anyone in the police department either. The top overtime recipient in the fire department, spokesman Kevin Cartwright, earned $32,991.73 extra in 2006, bumping his total salary 58 percent to 89,633.73. Compare that with Detective Albert Marcus in the police department, whose $62,998.00 salary more than doubled to $167,421.92 after overtime.
Police spokesman Matt Jablow said the department has reduced overtime spending 50 percent since the beginning of the year. Cartwright did not return a phone call requesting comment about this story, but regardless of his response, budgets don?t reflect each department?s payroll and haven?t for years.
This chronic problem means no one understands the real needs of each department. It allows lazy planning and makes it easy to hide waste and fraud.
That must stop. But it does not seem likely without forced accountability. An Examiner report Wednesday shows nearly half of the city?s $40 million surplus for fiscal 2007, which ends in June, will be directed to the police department. And most of that will go to overtime.
One way to make overtime practices more transparent is for each department to post online how much it spends each month, to whom and for what so that taxpayers can analyze if the extra work improved their safety and well-being. The information is open public record. Hiding it only serves those who have something to hide. What do you think, Chief William Goodwin, Commissioner Leonard Hamm and Mayor Sheila Dixon?
Click here for a full list of salaries and overtime at the fire department.
Read our story, ‘City?s surplus to cover fire department overtime‘
