Stan Geiger

What of Overtime?

A while back, maybe a year ago, the local TV news media reported on millions a year in overtime pay for Tulsa city employees. The reports said every city department was paying out overtime.

KOTV actually put a councilor's comment in its promos for a time. The councilor expressed shock at hearing of the exorbitant overtime pay, and said he should take the matter up with the full Council.

I've heard nothing about it since. Even amid the ongoing "budget crisis," I've heard nothing more about it.

Ain't that the way it typically goes? I mean whenever the local media stumbles across a story that actually contains red meat, it walks away. But, oh, don't you dare let a giraffe die! Reporters will be over that like racing stripes on your undies.

The only thing I've heard about overtime recently came from the mayor-cop negotiations. Cops offered to trade overtime pay for comp time.

As I recall from past reports, the top overtime receiver on the list was a cop stationed at the airport. The cop reportedly collected over $70,000 in overtime pay in a single year. I'm thinkin' putting in that amount of overtime was physically impossible, which takes one down the fraud road. But even if the overtime was for real, how much comp time could a cop get in exchange for it? Maybe a year and a half off with pay at straight time?

Do we want our tax dollars going to pay some guy to sit on a couch and drink beer for a year and a half?

It's snowing today. In honor of that, let's look at snow removal.

All Tulsans remember the Christmas Eve blizzard. Crews were sent out to clear the streets on Christmas Day. I jotted down some notes on the matter taken from reports of that event.

The reports said the city put out 90 pieces of equipment (32 plows and 58 spreaders), and employed 146 people to operate said equipment. So far so good. But the reports went further, stating the city had budgeted $65,000 for overtime pay for the year but blew right past that number in the first storm, paying out $97,000 on Christmas.

Let's do a little math.

If you divide $97,000 by 146, you come up with $664 per head on average. Does that not sound like a lot of money to pay someone for working a shift doing something a trained chimp could do? I mean we're talking about driving a truck down a street, folks.

Breaking things down to an hourly wage, an 8-hour shift paid $83 an hour. A 10-hour shift paid over $66 an hour. Even talking 12-hour shifts, the hourly wage comes to over $55 an hour.

Sure, it was Christmas. Bummer. But a lot of people have to work on Christmas. Take a hotel, for example. A hotel can't throw its guests out on the street just because it's Christmas. It has to stay open. And if it's open, people have to be there to clean rooms, work the desk, cook food and provide security. I defy you to find me a single hotel employee that got paid $664 for working on Christmas Day.

If you want to know why the city can't make ends meet, you don't have to look too hard.

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