SF Sheriff's Department Once Again Going Overboard on Overtime, On Track to Go $19 Million Over Budget for Year

"The Department has expended $30.3 million of its $31.7 million General Fund overtime budget, the SF Controller's Office said in that memo. The Department has spent $36.4 million of its $41.2 million budget. Based on a straight-line projection, which does not account for the impact of either new hires or seasonal demands on overtime usage, the Department is on pace to spend approximately $60.2 million in overtime by the end of the fiscal year, or approximately $19 million above budget."

"It has been a years-long constant of modern-day San Francisco that SFPD officers and SF Sheriff's Office deputies pull in rather obscene amounts of overtime pay. Plenty of audits have found abuse of the overtime system, but several consecutive mayors and SF Boards of Supervisors just keep on approving that cop overtime, making police and sheriff's deputies consistently among SF's highest-paid public employees."

"This comes when Mayor Daniel Lurie is demanding that other city departments lay people off and make sweeping cuts to the city services. As Mission Local points out, the very day the Controller's Office put out that memo, Lurie was demanding the Department of Public Health lop $40 million off its budget."

The SF Sheriff's Office continues a pattern of excessive overtime spending that has plagued San Francisco law enforcement for years. Despite multiple audits documenting abuse of the overtime system, successive mayors and Boards of Supervisors have consistently approved these expenditures, making police and sheriff's deputies among the city's highest-paid public employees. The SF Controller's Office reported that the Sheriff's Office has already spent $36.4 million of its $41.2 million budget two-thirds through the fiscal year. Projections indicate the department will spend approximately $60.2 million in overtime by year's end, exceeding budget by $19 million. This occurs while Mayor Daniel Lurie demands other departments implement significant cuts, including a $40 million reduction from the Department of Public Health.

Read at sfist.com