Senior Fire Officials Raking In Overtime

Montgomery Report Raises Safety Concerns

Senior Montgomery County firefighters have worked so many extra hours that at least nine made almost $200,000 last year, a report by the county's inspector general said yesterday. The highest-paid firefighter was a captain who more than doubled his 2007 salary in overtime, making $238,892 and working nearly 2,000 extra hours.

The report said so much overtime could raise health and safety concerns for firefighters and opens the door to possible fraud and abuse. Overtime rose 47.5 percent from 2004 to 2007; this year, the fire and rescue service is on track to exceed its overtime budget for the fifth year.

Montgomery Inspector General Thomas Dagley, who has been studying the issue for two years, said in his report that the system "has become increasingly dependent on the use of overtime by senior level personnel . . . and created a workforce environment in which overtime remains vulnerable to abuse."

Officials across the region are grappling with rising overtime. In Fairfax County, for example, fire and rescue department overtime increased $1.2 million to $18.68 million in the past year. John J. Caussin Jr., an assistant fire chief for personnel in Fairfax, said that in tight budget times, fire departments still have to staff firetrucks and medic units, without adding personnel.

"You've got to do more with less," he said.

Montgomery officials said budget constraints over the past decade have forced firefighters to take on extra duties, such as teaching recruits. In some cases, they said, paying overtime can be less expensive than hiring firefighters because retirement costs are higher for public safety employees than other county workers, a claim that auditors questioned.

County officials pledged to eliminate unnecessary overtime.

"Can we do more work on that? Sure," said Timothy Firestine, the county's chief administrative officer, who formerly headed the Finance Department. "If the hour doesn't need to be worked, let's eliminate the hour. If the hour has to be worked, we have to find the most efficient, effective way of doing that."

Fire union representatives said overtime should not be cause for concern.

"We don't believe there's a problem. We understand that a couple people have snuck through the cracks, but we believe with what we've put into place, there won't be any issue at all," firefighter union chief John Sparks said.

Montgomery County Council member Phil Andrews (D-Gaithersburg-Rockville), who chairs the panel's public safety committee, called the latest findings troubling. The panel plans to examine them next week.

"We don't want overtime to be used when it would be cheaper and more effective to have additional staffing," Andrews said. "And there is a safety question, an increase in occupational risk because people are tired and overworked. Overtime needs to be managed so employees don't burn out."