South Shore Fire Overtime Estimates Could Top $700,000 in 2012

Exactly how much money could be spent this year on South Shore Fire overtime is a matter of opinion, but the consensus is that the total will be north of $500,000.

According to calculations from South Shore Fire, the department could see $700,000 or more in overtime this year, according to a preliminary report at a recent Fire/EMS Oversight Committee meeting.

Rick McCluskey, chair of the committee, said he thinks overtime could run up to $905,000 based on figures provided by Battalion Chief Jon Keiser that indicate South Shore spent $150,000 in the two months since the Sturtevant station has been fully staffed.

"Mount Pleasant needs to address this as soon as possible," he said. “I hope my numbers are wrong, but either way, it’s a lot of money spent that could have been avoided.”

Next year, McCluskey added, will just be more of the same if action isn’t taken now.

Mount Pleasant Lead Accountant Vickie Matter said of the total $304,000 budgeted for overtime, including benefits, South Shore has spent about $135,000 through the April 27 pay date. Assuming South Shore continues to need overtime at the current rate, Matter said 2012 overtime will cost about $540,000, more than $200,00 over budget. Mount Pleasant Finance Department has not confirmed these numbers.

"That number is still over what was budgeted and also amended back in February," she said. "I need to see how South Shore arrived at their figures."

But Keiser said that $540,000 might be conservative since it's based predominantly on a department formula that puts three people off every day for vacation creating a need for one person working a 24-hour overtime shift..

"My calculations come in at about $700,000 or a little more depending on vacation, illness and injury coverage,” he said.

Village President Carolyn Milkie is not surprised that the village finds itself in this position.

"I'm surprised by the unverified amount of $905,000," she said. "But I'm not surprised that this has happened. I am very disappointed with members of our board who didn't take the recommendations of the department. South Shore came in with a budget at a ."

How the Overtime Built Up

Fulfilling the 2009 consolidation contract with Sturtevant is the primary reason the current fiscal situation is what it is. According to that agreement, there would be no less than 15 fire fighters on duty for every shift. The Sturtevant station would house two three-person crews and the other three stations would each have one three-person crew. Up until Feb. 20 of this year, however, South Shore has had an on-duty staff of 12 – one, three-person crew at each station – to help alleviate Mount Pleasant’s financial crunch.

Last December, , saying Sturtevant wasn't going to pay its 2012 portion of department costs and would instead reduce its payment to the same level as 2010 unless staffing at the Sturtevant station fulfilled the 2009 consolidation contract.

South Shore Fire Chief William Bouma and Keiser broke it down for Patch like this: When minimum staffing is at 15, the department operates with a maximum of three people off at a time. When a there is a fourth person off, perhaps because of illness, the contract requires SSFD to bring in personnel to replace that person, which means overtime. But, when minimum staffing is at 12—one, three-person crew at each of the four fire stations—and someone calls in, the department sometimes used a two-person crew as a first responder for medical calls, but had the option to call in overtime to keep the companies full.

The study that helped form the guidelines of the consolidation agreement outlined a plan to help avoid the overtime and short-staffing situations. In 2009, South Shore recommended hiring one new person in April and two new people in July of that year. The April hire would float between shifts to help reduce overtime. That person did join the department, but then the bottom fell out of the economy and new hires were put on hold.

"This was supposed to be a temporary situation," Keiser explained. "We cut overtime, went to a minimum of 12 and prayed to not have a lot of bad days."

Temporary, though, started to look a lot like permanent to Sturtevant, prompting the December letter.

since Feb. 20, hiring a new fire fighter and relying on overtime to pay to fully staff each shift. To fill in for vacations, illnesses and work-related injuries, South Shore also depends on overtime.

At last week's Fire/EMS Oversight Committee meeting, Sturtevant Administrator Mark Janiuk pointed out that he raised the staffing issues at committee meetings for months, so Mount Pleasant trustees could address it during their budget meetings.

“The requirements are in the contract, and I raised these concerns for months so committee members could take it back to their village boards,” he said. “The short-staffing was presented as short term, but it became the new normal with even further reductions.”

The good news for Sturtevant is that while the village shares a percentage of the price for any capital purchases, operational costs until 2014 are at a fixed rate per the contract. In 2014, a formula goes into effect so Sturtevant pays a percentage of the operating budget. What this means is that Mount Pleasant will be on the financial hook for any overtime amounts that go over budget in 2012.

Taking Steps to Solve the Problem

Mount Pleasant Trustee Jerry Garski said it’s time for the village to get serious.

“This village has to seriously sit down and look at what to do,” he said. “But I have to be honest, the fire department is bleeding this village dry.”

Garski thinks looking at alternatives like using interns and floaters might work, but looking at wages and benefits shouldn’t be ignored, either.

“These are the hard decisions people elected me to make,” he added. “I don’t want to get rid of people, but we have to look at every option. Do residents want their taxes doubled?”

But William Miller, president of the union for South Shore, said the department has been proposing for three years that it be fully staffed, and the recommendations have fallen on deaf ears.

“I don’t know why the board thinks they know more than we do about how to run this department,” he said. “I figured we could run out of overtime by mid-May, so Chief Keiser’s numbers sound about right.”

McCluskey said the solution is staring the village in the face: hire three new people.

"By my numbers, hiring three new people at the starting salary would be $250,000 a year including benefits. Problem solved,” he said. “That's a much better deal than shelling out all this money on overtime."

There is a meeting scheduled Thursday to talk about potential solutions. Bouma, Keiser, Milkie, Matter, Interim Administrator Ron Meyer, and Trustee Harry Manning, chair of the Finance Committee, will be present.