By Deana Poole
Palm Beach Post
Copyright 2007 The Palm Beach Newspapers, Inc.
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Chief Herman Brice may be the top boss at Palm Beach County Fire-Rescue, but he didn’t bring home the biggest paycheck last year.
Overtime payouts — some totaling more than $50,000 each — helped boost the paychecks of hundreds of fire-rescue workers, according to payroll records.
One captain alone, who has been with fire-rescue for 24 years, collected more than $125,000 in overtime during the last two years.
Officials argue it’s cheaper to pay overtime than hire more people.
But the overtime payments not only boost employee paychecks now, they can increase employee retirement benefits — a cost taxpayers will continue to pay over the long run.
The Palm Beach Post analyzed payroll records of county employees during the two most recent budget years, 2005-06 and 2006-07. The analysis did not include employees of constitutional officers, such as the sheriff and tax collector.
Among the findings:
* Fire-rescue workers were paid about $6.7 million in overtime last year — more than the two previous years, which included overtime costs for hurricanes.
* More than half the overtime paid to the entire county’s workforce last year went to fire-rescue workers.
* About 215 fire-rescue workers were each paid more than $10,000 in overtime last year.
* Overtime helped several fire-rescue employees rival or exceed the pay of Brice, who made about $172,000 last year.
* In many cases, the overtime helped workers earn more than $100,000 last year.
The same scenario is playing out elsewhere.
In Martin County, a battalion commander racked up enough overtime last year to make her the second highest-paid county employee, behind only the county administrator.
In all, Martin fire-rescue workers were paid a little more than $2 million in overtime last year. But with a much smaller staff, it spent more on overtime per firefighter than Palm Beach or St. Lucie counties.
Martin officials said the only way to avoid paying so much overtime is to hire as many as 30 firefighters to act as floaters who would fill in when other firefighters are off. Officials there say hiring workers could cost just as much as paying overtime.
In Palm Beach County, the top five overtime recipients in fire-rescue were all captains in the same battalion, which covers the Lake Worth area.
The five captains brought home a combined $268,000 in overtime alone.
The starting salary for a firefighter-emergency medical technician during the same period was $43,705. The starting salary of a firefighter-paramedic was $50,262.
Deputy Chief Steve Delai said those captains serve on the special operations team and have specialized training that few others have. He said there’s a limited pool of employees who can fill in when the captains aren’t scheduled to work.
The special operations team responds to calls involving hazardous materials, dive rescue and high-angle rescue.
Delai said the department looked into whether it would be cheaper to promote three people — one person for each shift — who could fill in on the captains’ vacation days and other time off. Delai said they found it was “substantially cheaper” for the department to pay the overtime.
But County Commission Chairwoman Addie Greene called the overtime payments “embarrassing,” especially when budgets are being cut and employees are being laid off.
She said the department should hire people and train them to do the work rather than pay the overtime.
The department’s operating budget last year was $290 million, which is paid for through its own taxing district. It had about 1,418 full-time employees and provided fire and emergency medical services to 745,918 people.
County Administrator Bob Weisman said that, in general, the advantage of paying overtime is not having to pay for a second set of benefits, such as health insurance. But he noted that the overtime pay also can increase retirement benefits, which are paid for by taxpayers.
He said sometimes union contracts can force the situation.
“Some of those people are the most senior people, so by union contract, they are the first entitled to the overtime,” he said. “The problem becomes if you have union contracts based on seniority and have staffing requirements based for safety or management reasons, then you almost force yourself into that circumstance, which doesn’t sound very good.”
Employees above the rank of district chief aren’t allowed overtime, Delai said, except in emergency and disaster situations. It became part of county policy in the last few years because of the hurricanes.
So at what point is it cheaper to hire someone?
“If you regularly need to pay overtime to people (and) it’s almost where they’re working another full shift, then you need to hire a replacement,” Weisman said.
During the last budget year, 464 people in the county’s workforce made more than $100,000. About 68 percent of that group worked for fire-rescue. Overtime lifted earnings for 82 of those fire-rescue workers into six figures.
The extra cash will help them in the long run, too.
Fire-rescue workers, like other county employees, receive benefits under the state’s retirement system. Benefits are paid based on a person’s average total compensation, which is calculated by averaging the five highest years of pay — including overtime.
Sid Dinerstein, chairman of the Palm Beach County Republican Party and critic of the county’s budget, said it’s a widely talked-about “game that’s played in every county” that overtime goes to those who are close to retiring and need an extra boost.
“That’s the scam,” he said. “It’s a rip-off of the taxpayers.”
Dinerstein faults the state for the way the law is written and says the problem could be resolved by not including overtime in the benefit calculation.
Delai, the fire-rescue deputy chief, said that although the department offers overtime to everyone on a rotation basis, not everyone wants to work it.
Because the department is required to have a certain level of staffing at all times, he said, overtime likely will always be needed.
Those holding the rank of district chief and below typically work about 10 days a month.
They work one 24-hour shift and take 48 hours off. About every three weeks each firefighter gets a day off, called a Kelly Day, to bring the hours down to an average of 48 per week.
The department has about four people to cover every one position. It has floaters to cover most of the positions to reduce overtime.
The department also can use lower-ranked lieutenants to fill in for the day for an absent district chief.
“We’re constantly analyzing our overtime based on the needs of a particular position to make sure it’s not cheaper to hire more people,” Delai said.
He said simply hiring more people and increasing the department’s budget just to avoid paying overtime wouldn’t make sense, he said.
“To some degree there’s always going to be overtime involved in covering those positions,” he said.
Database editor Christine Stapleton and staff writer Jason Schultz contributed to this story.