Enough Overtime Pay

The disclosure that county spending on travel and overtime has nearly doubled since the bankruptcy is cause for concern.

County officials need to keep a close watch on spending for conferences and training programs. Department heads need to monitor their own spending as well as that of subordinates. The county’s chief executive and Board of Supervisors also must ensure that expenditures indeed are necessary.

For the fiscal year ended June 30, the county paid its 15,000-person work force more than $31 million in overtime. In 1995, the year after the bankruptcy and a time when all spending was being slashed severely, the overtime came to $17.3 million.

The increase in travel costs was more dramatic because it occurred over a shorter period. In the fiscal year ended June 30, 1998, the tab was $715,000. A year later, it rose to $1.3 million.

In many cases, overtime is cheaper than hiring new workers, who in addition to salaries receive benefits including health care and retirement plans. Supervisors must ensure that not only are the extra hours required but that they can be worked without overtaxing employees. Too much overtime in too short a span leaves workers tired and inefficient.

County department heads say one reason for the increase in overtime pay is the recent increase in salaries for many workers. Those were the first pay boosts since the county’s fiscal disaster, which was caused by a bad bet on interest rates by the former county treasurer. Bigger salaries mean bigger overtime wages. It’s also important to remember that overtime and travel costs have not risen appreciably since the years before the bankruptcy.

However, travel costs can be kept down by telephoning legislators in Sacramento, for instance, rather than flying there to explain what the county needs. Video conferences, Internet courses and similar high-tech methods sometimes can substitute for off-site training programs.

The county has emerged from bankruptcy, but at a steep cost. Repaying the bonds means cuts in a number of programs benefiting the public, including transportation and parks. That makes it incumbent on managers to hold the line on their departments’ discretionary spending.