Worcester Overtime Pay Rising, With Police Bodycams A Factor: Audit

WORCESTER, MA — Worcester may spend about $1.4 million more in overtime pay by the end of the fiscal year, driven largely by police and school employee overtime, according to a report sent to city councilors this week by City Auditor Robert Stearns.

The report, which was the result of a request made at a previous meeting by At-Large Council Khrystian King, shows Worcester ended fiscal year 2022 spending $32.4 million on overtime. Stearns is projecting the city will spend $33.8 million when the 2023 fiscal year ends this month, a 4.3 percent increase.

Subscribe

Overtime paid to police from the general fund will likely end the fiscal year $1.2 million higher than fiscal year 2022. Worcester police Lt. Sean Murtha said the increase is due to several factors, including police using overtime to train with new bodycams and Taser weapons

Worcester spent about $4 million to buy bodycams and Tasers for the 300 officers who now wear them. The city also renegotiated contracts with police unions to compensate officers for wearing the cameras, but that money is not counted as overtime.

Worcester police detail overtime — money private organizations pay to hire police to staff events and construction, not taxpayer funds — will likely decrease about 15 percent, according to the audit. That’s because police were no longer staffing the nurses strike at St. Vincent’s Hospital, which took place partially in fiscal year 2022.

Due to overtime, Worcester police typically rank among the highest paid city employees. In 2022, the top 47 highest earners were police, beating out leaders including the city manager and superintendent. The No. 1 highest paid city employee in 2022 was Officer Matthew D’Andrea, who earned more than $286,000, including $45,000 in overtime and $51,000 in detail pay.

Worcester Public Schools overtime will end fiscal 2023 up 258 percent to about $4.3 million, according to the audit. Much of the increase will go to custodians who worked overtime cleaning schools. That overtime was paid in the previous fiscal year by federal stimulus dollars linked to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Another $1 million will go to the district’s bus drivers. Many worked overtime over the fiscal year during a bus driver shortage. The district ended its contract with Durham School Services in August 2021, opting to buy a fleet of school buses to bring transportation operations fully in-house.

The emergency communications account will end fiscal 2023 about 131 percent higher at $760,000. That due to chargebacks from the police and fire department from employees in those departments who covered shifts in the 911 dispatch center.

The council will accept the auditor’s overtime report at Tuesday’s meeting and likely send it to a committee for further discussion.

Read the full overtime audit here: