New Canaan’s police chief said last month that the department is looking hard at its overtime use after trending high in some areas fiscal-year-to-date.
Chief John DiFederico reported during the most recent Police Commission meeting that “we’re trending a little high” with respect to overtime lines.
According to data obtained by NewCanaanite.com through a public records request, the Police Department had spent about $185,000 of the $265,000 total (about 70%) allocated for regular overtime through this fiscal year, which ends June 30. It wasn’t clear from the data whether it represented totals through November or through the date of the meeting (Dec. 20). Smaller allocations related to police overtime—for example, for training ($110,000)—are on track to fall within budgeted amounts, the data show, and DiFederico noted that overall the police are on track this fiscal year in terms of spending on salaries.
“We’re going to really take a hard look at why our overtime is trending high the past year or more, certainly before budget cycle, and make sure we ask for the right amount and back up our reasonings and see what they may be,” DiFederico told members of the Police Commission at their meeting, held at Town Hall. “And see what we can control and get those numbers down a little bit. But it’s something that we’re actively working on.”
The comments came during the chief’s regular monthly reports to the Commission.
During his staffing report presentation, DiFederico noted that in November the department was working 84% of the time with “minimum shifts.”
“Those minimum shifts just kill us, because it’s just one sick call or something,” the chief said. “And they don’t necessarily mean that all of those shifts result in any kind of overtime, but it puts us on a razor’s edge, so there’s just no hope for any sick calls or anything like that. So it really really hinders us. It hits us with overtime. So we’ll look at that and see if we can do anything for that.”
The Police Commission’s next regular meeting is scheduled for Wednesday.