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"Andrea Hyatt, a former assistant city attorney in Dallas, said that some cities have tried other options, like cutting officers' shifts to 35 hours a week, but that those approaches are unpopular. "The only idea that is friendly to both sides is hiring more cadets. The obvious implication to that is it's a lot of cost to train and recruit" new officers, she said."

FORT WORTH -- Three years after the city said it would crack down on overtime pay, dozens of employees continue to boost their salaries by 25 percent or more, according to

The top 100 overtime earners -- 71 police officers, two civilian police employees, 25 firefighters, an in-house lobbyist and a construction inspector -- boosted their salaries by an average of about $23,000, from $75,742 to $99,037. One officer boosted his salary by 73 percent through overtime pay.

To earn that amount, the officer had to work more than 60 hours a week the entire year, more than 1,000 hours in overtime. A horse trainer in the Police Department earned overtime amounting to 786 hours; a police communication shift supervisor, 630 hours; another police officer, 930 hours.

The City Council has been pressing department heads to reduce overtime since 2007, when an audit showed that excessive overtime was contributing to a shortfall of more than $400 million in the municipal pension fund.

That has generally worked. Overall, overtime dropped from $20.7 million in 2007 to $19.6 million in 2008 and $18 million last year. Every department saw a decrease last year -- except the Police Department. Police overtime went from $7.3 million in 2007 to $8.5 million in 2008 and $8.8 million in 2009, the highest level in six years of data the Star-Telegram obtained.

Overtime pay has been a thorny problem around the state as cities struggle with their budgets. Last year, Houston employees racked up $67 million in overtime. As in Fort Worth, the lion's share went to the police, according to the Houston Chronicle.

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Time to hire?

Most experts predict that city and state government finances will be strained over the next decade as baby boomers hit retirement age. A study by the Pew Center on the States estimated that state governments alone have a funding gap of $1 trillion in their pensions.

The study didn't look at local pension funds like the Fort Worth Employees' Retirement Fund. But Kil Huh at the Pew Center said overtime spiking has caused shortfalls in pension funds around the country. The larger problem, though, has been that governments don't put enough money into their pensions, he said.

"Even if spiking were a problem, in good times and in bad times, states have consistently kicked the can down the road," he said.

Last week, the Fort Worth City Council voted to make an additional contribution of $7 million to the municipal pension fund on top of the $111 million already in this year's budget. Meanwhile, an actuarial report predicts that the pension will run out of money between 2050 and 2065 if trends continue.

Mayor Mike Moncrief said it's important to remember who is ultimately responsible for the pension fund.

"The fact is, that [insolvency] is not going to happen -- the taxpayers will have to come in and bail it out," he said Tuesday. "This is going to take all of us working together to fix this."

Fort Worth has a committee studying long-term solutions to the pension problem.

Fisseler said he doesn't want to eliminate the guaranteed pension since it's one of the selling points when recruiting employees. "While there's no question it's a good benefit, that's one of the reasons we've retained some top employees," he said.

Steven Kreisberg, director of collective bargaining for the 1.4-million-member American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, said a simpler solution is to write rules that prevent overtime spiking.

Trumble, at Virginia Commonwealth, said a better solution than reducing pension benefits is hiring more employees to lessen the need for overtime. "They'll be able to put in more hours, and you're able to avoid burnout of the person who is working a lot of hours," he said.

Andrea Hyatt, a former assistant city attorney in Dallas, said that some cities have tried other options, like cutting officers' shifts to 35 hours a week, but that those approaches are unpopular. "The only idea that is friendly to both sides is hiring more cadets. The obvious implication to that is it's a lot of cost to train and recruit" new officers, she said.

Moncrief and the council are watching the pension fund closely.

"The goal is to manage overtime while still allowing these critical services to maintain the response times and levels of service that our citizens expect and deserve," Moncrief said. 

http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/05/08/2174572/dozens-of-fort-worth-workers-boosting.html

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