Blytheville Mayor James Sanders slashed city overtime by about $150,000 in 2011, his first year in office.
According to city financial records, the city spent $342,966.88 in overtime in 2011, compared to $493,023.91 in 2010.
On Sunday, the CN reported the city spent approximately $367,690 in overtime, but new data shows the true figure was $493,023.91.
Comparing overtime by departments, Animal Control had $15,012.01 in 2010 and $12,400.03 in 2011; Blytheville Waterworks offices $2,590.23 in 2011 (2010 figures unavailable); parks and recreation and city parks/pools $8,773.58 in 2011 and $14,996.67 in 2010; communications $12,307.66 in 2011 and $17,591.12 in 2010; corrections $116.03 in 2011 and $336.59 in 2010; fire department $75,292.68 in 2011 and $84,784.70 in 2010; golf course $3,192.40 in 2011 and $3,497.72 in 2010; police department $140,016.97 in 2011 and $132,656.33 in 2010; Public Works shop $124.53 in 2011 and $3,693.81 in 2010; sanitation $1,569.60 in 2011 and $39,384.50 in 2010; street $15,820.70 in 2011 and $34,542.52 in 2010; Sign and Signal $3,438.07 in 2010 (2011 figures unavailable); Wastewater $14,519.63 in 2011 and $17,447.01 in 2010; Waterworks $37,266.23 in 2011 and $125,642.86 in 2010.
The departments totaled 18,557.31 overtime hours in 2011, compared to 21,640.35 in 2010.
There were 33 city employees who earned $40,000 or more in 2011, compared for 43 in 2010. Of the 33, 21 were in police and fire departments. Of the 43 in 2010, 27 were in the police and fire departments.
Sanders noted some police and fire overtime is necessary for safety reasons.
The mayor said the city is required to send a certain number of firemen to a fire scene because it involves life and property. All firemen are paged out, and those arriving on scene are paid overtime.
Fire department overtime is also based on a 53-hour work week, set up on a 28-day cycle because firemen work 24 on, 48 off. According to Fire Chief Mike Carney, anything over 212 hours in that 28-day cycle is overtime.
Sanders also pointed out that the Blytheville/Gosnell Regional Airport Authority pays the city a stipend for fire protection at the base. Those firemen receiving the ARFF pay, off-duty at the time, had it added to their city earnings, but BGRAA reimbursed the city for those wages. That may make firemen's base pay appear higher than it is.
Meanwhile, there are circumstances when police overtime is unavoidable as well, said Sanders, who has a law enforcement background, including serving as Mississippi County sheriff before being elected mayor.
Officers get overtime for going to court on their days off, filling in for another officer, providing security at festivals and community functions, training, being pulled away from their families to investigate crime scenes and working incidents like standoffs when off-duty.
Sanders noted one such incident occurred Saturday, when a possible suicidal individual fired a shot in a North Ruddle home.
The SRT team was called in and officers surrounded the perimeter to protect the public.
"Those types of public safety issues, dealing with our police and our firefighters, they happen," Sanders said. "It's not something that you can really plan for."
Sanders noted the city is looking at what other police departments do for special events.
"There is a reasonable expectation of safety, and we only have a limited number of police officers," he said. "We're looking at ways of how we can manage that and still give an expectation of safety."
Sanders said the city is trying to hire more officers, which would cut down on overtime.
He noted, however, there isn't a big pool of qualified applicants for the police or fire departments.
"They're trying to get the best of the crop for the citizens," Sanders said. "You don't just take anybody. You don't just take a body and breath. You have to have somebody qualified for those positions. My belief is the police and the firefighters have a higher expectation. Those are services that require life, safety skills."
Meanwhile, Sanders said some water department overtime is unavoidable as well.
He said the department has a crew on call for incidents that happen after hours.
"We had to modify the procedures because there were some situations where when one got called out, just about everybody got called out," Sanders said. "We had to re-establish procedures in who was called and make sure that a supervisor was there, similar to police officers called out. We changed those procedures to minimize the (overtime) hours."
He said now the departments must call him to approve additional call-outs.
Meanwhile, the 2010 salaries showed former Thunder Bayou Golf Links Superintendent Jeff Haskins was the highest paid city employee at $77,586.
Even though he resigned last September, he was still the second-highest paid city employee in 2011, earning $64,551 of the city employees' total $5,867,193.43 earnings last year. City attorney Mike Bearden was the highest paid city employee at $68,137.08.
Sanders has not replaced Haskins, nor did he put his salary in the 2012 budget.
The mayor noted he hasn't had an opportunity to properly evaluate procedures at the golf course because of the multimillion IRS issue that arose last March.
Sanders added he is still evaluating city jobs.
"If they're not what the expectations are for this administration then (the city will) change them," he said.
Employee/Dept. OT Hours OT Pay Total Earnings
Mike Bearden, City Attorney -- -- $68,137.08
Jeff Haskins, Golf Course -- -- $64,451.60
James Sanders, Mayor -- -- $63,294.91
Rick Mosley, Public Works -- -- $63,229.42
Mike Carney, Fire Chief -- -- $52,501.69
Matt Mosley, Water -- -- $49,278.66
Ross Thompson, Police Chief -- -- $49,018.02
David Copeland, Wastewater 22.50 $772.20 $48,482.72
Ricky Jefferson, Police 133.50 $3,724.50 $48,214.25
William Travis, Police 176.00 $4,802.97 $47,759.39
Chris Lassley, Police 412.50 $9,506.60 $46,162.93
Marvin Crawford, Police -- -- $45,551.82
Rex Wilhite, Fire -- -- $45,411.82
Billy Hancock, Police 265.50 $6,253.22 $45,198.06
Jeff Camp, Fire 0.85 $18.02 $45,020.70
Randal Woolsey, Fire 127.04 $2,667.22 $44,150.47
Michael Mosley, Sanitation 381.75 $8,532.91 $43,968.37
Scott Adams, Police 86.25 $2,206.17 $43,537.37
Kenneth Ellis, Wastewater -- -- $43,490.98
Scott Edwards, Fire 190.55 $3,858.66 $43,350.66
James Yankee, Wastewater -- -- $43,242.16
Matt Jackson, Police 178.25 $4,247.36 $42,866.03
Nick Nelson, Police 176.50 $4,157.02 $42,743.77
Joseph Manrique, Fire 131.88 $2,627.32 $42,603.20
Kyle Lively, Police 317.75 $7,025.44 $42,551.24
Gary Carr, Wastewater 85.00 $2,440.39 $42,524.35
Jeremy Ward, Police 187.75 $4,354.35 $41,755.15
Louis Stafford, Waterworks 629.45 $12,625.85 $41,696.31
Vanessa Stewart, Police 215.00 $4,719.38 $41,335.80
Judy Andrews, Admin. -- -- $41,163.02
Charles Middlebrook, Police 173.75 $3,988.33 $40,936.75
Teri Looney, Police 68.00 $1,622.69 $40,154.29
Paul Brown, Fire 101.59 $1,894.42 $40,147.78
mbrasfield@blythevillecourier.com