A failure to see eye-to-eye on overtime hours between the Brookhaven Board of Aldermen and the City’s police department is not about money, according to Mayor Joe Cox.

“This is really about officer safety,” Cox said. “You can’t function at full capacity if you’re exhausted.”

The concern for the aldermen in general was that a small number of officers were working what could be considered an excessive number of hours. Two officers earned more than 72 hours OT in January, while another got 131 hours and another racked up 247.5 hours of overtime according to data gathered from City of Brookhaven payroll overtime earnings reports. That’s just under 62 hours of OT per week, in addition to the 40 hours or more of “regular” time — 102 or more hours in one week.

At its most recent meeting Tuesday, the Brookhaven Board of Aldermen voted to limit the amount of overtime hours per employee per pay period, applicable to every department of the city. The new policy places a maximum cap of 25 overtime hours per two-week pay period, or 50 hours per monthly pay period. The exception would be during an emergency. The cap goes into effect Feb. 25, when the new pay period begins, City Clerk Samantha Melancon said.

The aldermen voted 5-0 to approve the policy. Ward 2 Alderman Shannon Moore and Ward 5 Alderman Fletcher Grice abstained from the vote.

Following the meeting Police Chief Kenneth Collins responded by saying, “That’s not going to work. The city is going to suffer.”

“When people begin to notice there are not enough police out to cover special events, or to fight crime, for parades, to escort funerals, they need to ask their aldermen what happened. You can’t cap overtime on first responders. It affects their ability to fight crime and keep the town safe,” Collins said.

The chief said the new policy may have been presented as for all departments, but was aimed primarily at the police department. Cox said the police department is not the only city department with overtime or overtime problems, but it does have the most.

In January 2023, a total of 1,149.5 overtime hours were submitted by police officers. That translates to a dollar amount of $36,902.58. Not every officer worked OT hours — which are paid at 1.5 times the regular hourly rate for that employee, by law — and most logged hours at or below the 50-hour monthly cap. The hours that went beyond that for most would likely also fall under the emergency exception rule, Cox said.

Other departments that garnered OT hours in January were the City Clerk’s Office (130.74 hours); Animal Control (12 hours); Fire Department (66 hours); Building Inspector (1.5 hours); Street Department (48 hours); Public Works (4 hours); Cemetery Department (22 hours); Water & Sewer (224 hours); Solid Waste (182) — a total of 690.24 hours.

 

Historical numbers

One year ago, in January 2022, police officers submitted 724.25 OT hours, with three officers working 80 or more hours of OT for the month. The city’s other departments logged a total of 544.5 hours for the month.

In January 2021, OT hours were 419 for the police department and 683 for other departments.

In 2021, the BPD Fiscal Year budget was $3.261 million. In 2022, the department’s budget was $3.386 million. January’s payouts were about $17,000 below budget for the month, and the year-to-date totals each year were both below budget.

The FY2023 budget is $3.799 million. So far in 2023, January’s actual payout was $10,000 less than budgeted for the month, though the year-to-date is $5,000 over budget.

 

What is the answer?

With expenses historically below budgeted numbers, when the fiscal year ends in June the final numbers may be at or under the budgeted amount.

“Again, it’s not about the money. They’re still within their budget,” he said. “But it is about officers being able to perform their jobs safely.”

More officers working needed hours would reduce the amount of overtime hours per employee, even if the total OT for the department remained at or near the same. Officers have to be willing and able to work OT hours in order to get them, since overtime hours go hand-in-hand with law enforcement.

“They have to work overtime, especially if someone is sick, there’s a family emergency, or if there is a major investigation such as a homicide or something like that, we have to call in extra officers. There will definitely be overtime,” Collins said. “My officers will be there as needed, because we care about our community, about our city. We’re going to keep on doing our job to protect our city, because crime does not stop at 50 hours. Crime is a 24-hour-a-day job.”