City workers' overtime on rise

Torontosun.com
May 12, 2015
By Don Peat

Overtime has been on the increase at the City of Toronto in the last two years.

A report from city auditor general Beverly Romeo-Beehler notes OT increased from $43 million in 2013 to $51.5 million last year - an $8.5 million jump. Overtime in 2013 was $4.2 million more than 2012.

The auditor general’s office is able to track the numbers from its “continuous controls monitoring program” of selected city expenses that has been up and running since 2011. That program also found the number of staff with overtime exceeding 30% of their base pay increased from 105 in 2013 to 199 last year.

The report suggests management should consider more “proactive action in planning and authorizing overtime” to address the year-over-year increases.

Audit committee vice-chair Stephen Holyday said the OT numbers got his attention.

“I think that these controls are valuable and they’ve just proven why we have them,” he said Tuesday. “I think that the report generates healthy questions.”

According to the report, management blames much of the overtime costs on the 2013 winter ice storm and the 2014 extreme cold weather which led to a frenzy of frozen water pipe issues.

“One might understand and appreciate some of the overtime work done for things like the ice storm ... and other outside activities. It just begs the question to ask about some of the indoor activities and why we see more and more overtime year over year,” Holyday said.

He pointed to a line in the report that said the auditor was looking at the impact of staff absenteeism on overtime as part of a review of long-term disability.

“We don’t want to be an organization where there is a correlation between overtime and days off,” Holyday said.

Here’s a rundown of OT at the city over the years:

Total overtime:
2010 - $45 million
2011 - $41 million
2012 - $38.8 million
2013 - $43 million
2014 - $51.5 million

Overtime hours:
2010 - 1.08 million
2011 - 984,400
2012 - 907,500
2013 - 995,000
2014 - 1.14 million

Staff with overtime totalling more than 30% of pay:
2010 - 212
2011 - 146
2012 - 124
2013 - 105
2014 - 199