Politics & Government

Overtime Costs Color Budget Discussions

The township council discusses overtime costs with the police and public works.

Although there were no comments from the public during Monday's budget public hearing, the council focused their attentions on what could be done to possibly streamline overtime costs in the police department.

Councilman Matthew Moench said that, in overtime costs, the department spent $290,000 two years ago and about $289,000 in 2012. But this year, he said, they are only budgeting for $260,000.

"I want to make sure we are budgeting accurately," he said. "It is great for the numbers to go down if we think they will be roughly the same."

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Township administrator James Naples said part of the increase in costs in previous years comes from the fact that there were four vacancies in the department—but they are looking to fill three of them very soon.

But aside from that, most of the overtime is because of freak events.

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"Without a doubt, those significantly affect overtime," Bridgewater Township Police Chief Richard Borden said. "With two hurricanes and a freak snowstorm [over the last two years], they do impact the budget."

Serious crimes could also play into overtime costs, Borden said, because of an increase in investigative hours, but it is mostly the weather issues that have done the most damage.

"The last two years by far, the impacts have been the weather," Borden said. "Even with planning, there is no way to control the resources that were needed in those."

Overtime costs are also doled out for additional officers to work in the courts on Tuesday, because officers are on a Sunday to Wednesday and Wednesday to Sunday schedule. Wednesday is a double duty day, Borden said.

"Tuesday we have one side of the week off," he said, adding that they need to put officers in the courtroom, while also fulfilling their regular duties. "We don't have extra people like we do on Wednesday. [But on Tuesday] there are no extra bodies to put in the court."

Borden said there are not too many opportunities to make changes in the schedule, but adding in people to fill vacancies could help with the issues.

"This has been the schedule in place since I was an officer," he said. "What it does allow is Wednesday we have a lot of mandated training that we have to do over the course of the year. It's really the only day that allows us to be able to do training without bringing in officers for overtime for training."

Borden said all of the township department's training is done on Wednesday, although they cannot control when country training is held.

"We have looked at a lot of scheduling, but some are not management friendly, and some don't have training day options," he said. "One problem gets solved and another develops."

What they have done, Borden said, is assigned one sergeant to take the role of court officer, supervising the procedures and other officers.

"He is essentially assigned that day for court to alleviate overtime," he said. "That's one guarantee we can put in now without impacting other units."

While they wait to fill vacancies in the department, Borden said, other issues come in when officers are out on medical leave, sick time or vacation.

"If we can fill the vacancies and get up to where we should be, we will have more flexibility to be able to look at overtime," he said, adding that the department is supposed to have 74 officers. "It's a matter of when we can get up to where we should be."

Other questions for the police department centered on costs for ammunition purchases.

Borden said ammunition is currently at a premium in terms of shortages, but it is needed for training and actual work.

"We have tried to maintain as much discipline as we can, and there is a certain amount we have to qualify with and there is training that goes along with it," he said. "We are trying to be as disciplined as we can, but the cost is rising quite fast."

Borden said there is a 60-round qualification requirement twice a year for each officer, as well as a 50-round qualification twice a year for each officer for night fire.

"Because of the lack of and demand for ammunition throughout the country, we are trying to get officers in and out of the range [for training] as fast as we can," he said. "There is so much mandated training that we have to do."

To account for all the training, Borden said, they try to create four-hour blocks for training, rather than the previous eight-hour blocks.

"We are trying to maintain consistency, and it is easier to move everyone through," he said.

The council also spoke to John Langel, head of the public works department, and council members asked how part time and full time work is doled out.

Langel said most of the part time workers are in the parks department, with the season being from March until November, and mostly during the summer. He said it is a lot of college students and others who could only work during those months anyway.

"Summer is usually the only time I can get the part time workers," he said.

As for overtime work, Langel said, none is scheduled, and it is only needed when there are events or major weather emergencies.

The council also approved the introduction of a few budget amendments, mostly housekeeping issues.

The first, according to chief financial officer Natasha Turchan, is for including proceeds from insurance costs received because of vehicle damage sustained during Superstorm Sandy, as well as expenditures needed for the remainder of those costs.

"We got proceeds from another car that was damaged, and we have to purchase another car to replace," she said. "The insurance company covers purchases and payments."

, an increase of 1.26 percent over the 2012 budget of $38,451,229.13.

As proposed, residents will pay a municipal tax of $1,053 for a home assessed at the average value of $411,662. This is the same amount residents paid in 2012.

A public hearing on the amendments and final vote on the budget is expected April 15.


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