MODESTO, Calif. -- Officials who oversee the Modesto Regional Fire Authority assured council members Tuesday that they are reining in excessive overtime.
In a report to the City Council's audit committee Tuesday, the Seattle-based Moss Adams accounting firm detailed a yearlong spike in overtime for the regional fire authority. The regional agency was born 13 months ago when Modesto's fire department merged with the Stanislaus County Fire Warden's office and the smaller Salida fire district.
The auditors found that Modesto staff cuts and retirements last year, and the inability to fill the vacancies promptly, caused overtime to skyrocket. In one month alone, the regional authority spent $250,000 paying overtime rates for personnel to fill the gaps in fire-suppression units.
While agencies find it's cost-effective to pay a certain amount of overtime instead of employing more full-time staff, the regional authority overshot its overtime budget by $776,000 from July 2011 through June, the report said.
City Manager Greg Nyhoff and interim Fire Chief Gary Hinshaw told the audit committee that overtime expenses are back to normal. "It has been much more stabilized, and we are starting to reap the benefits" of being a regional agency, he said.
Overtime soared after $1.9 million in Modesto budget cuts eliminated eight firefighter positions last year and the city offered retirement incentives to department veterans. City management approved retirement requests for 16 fire personnel.
Nyhoff said the retirements were approved because the regional authority was sure to get a $2 million federal grant for hiring nine firefighters for two years. But a five-year city hiring freeze had gutted an eligibility list of people qualified to work for the fire service.
It took months for the regional authority to recruit and review applicants and put the new hires through a four-week training academy. In the meantime, the newly formed agency paid a ton of overtime to staff shorthanded engine crews around the clock.
Sick leave increases
Beside the vacant positions, the auditors found that increased sick leave and time off for work-related injuries contributed to overtime costs.
Moss Adams serves as the auditor for the Modesto City Council and was told to delve into the overtime problem in April. Its report released late last week suggested that officials monitor overtime in the next several months and review the situation in January.
Hinshaw said an uptick in emergency calls has put more pressure on firefighting units. He noted that one new firefighter went on 27 calls during his first 36 hours on the job.
Audit committee members -- Mayor Garrad Marsh and Councilmen Dave Geer and Joe Muratore -- asked how the nine firefighters will be funded after the grant funds run out in 2014. Nyhoff said other grants could become available and he hopes more efficient operations will free up money.
In another report, Moss Adams criticized the use of gift cards for purchasing supplies for fire stations. The report concluded that it's "difficult to track who has access to gift cards, whether the supplies purchased were approved and what account in the financial system should be charged for each purchase."
No abuses found
City Hall issued at least 30 gift cards worth $100 for stores, such as Orchard Supply Hardware, to Modesto fire stations going back to 2008. Moss Adams did not uncover gift-card abuses, but determined that there were $50.85 in missing receipts for one card and that one card was lost.
The city stopped issuing the cards in April, the report said.
Copyright 2012 - The Modesto Bee, Calif.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
