Dec. 28—NORWALK — City police and firefighters earned about $14.7 million from overtime and extra work in 2024, according to information their chiefs provided to Hearst Connecticut Media through a Freedom of Information Act request.
Norwalk’s police officers and firefighters worked about 223,832 hours of overtime and extra duty, as of mid-December, according to the data. The first 50 of 52 weeks of the year’s pay data was available by publication.
This averages a $65 hourly wage, although police and department employees don’t earn the same rates for all kinds of work. Main drivers of overtime are employees taking time off or sick days and some vacancies in the departments, the chiefs said.
The overtime just for the May 2 Interstate 95 fire that required the demolition of the Fairfield Avenue bridge in Norwalk cost over double what the police department usually spends on overtime in a week, Police Chief James Walsh said.
More News
Norwalk police, firefighters earn $14.7M in overtime, extra duty pay in 2024
A fire in May that engulfed a bridge over Interstate 95 in Norwalk cost the police…
In photos: Wilton’s Great Holiday Train Show on track at Historical Society
The Great Holiday Train Show will run through Jan. 20, Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
20 Norwalk eateries cited with top health violations in November
The number of food-serving establishments cited in November is up by three compared to…
Norwalk’s Stepping Stones Museum for Children celebrates Kwanzaa traditions
Children could take part in a story time or African dance workshop with Kwanzaa themes.
Norwalk’s biggest projects and top issues advancing in 2025
With two schools being constructed and a major railroad bridge project underway, Norwalk…
Here’s how the departments racked up nearly $15 million in overtime and extra work pay.
Norwalk Fire Department
Norwalk’s firefighters and other fire department employees worked 95,047 hours of overtime up until mid-December this year, according to the data.
Excluding some employees like the fire marshal and safety officer and training director, those thousands of hours cost the city about $4.4 million in calendar year 2024.
The fire overtime budget for the July 2024 to June 2025 fiscal year is about $4.5 million and should be the same in the upcoming fiscal year, Fire Chief Gino Gatto said.
The fire department staffs 33 positions every hour of the day so firefighters can respond to necessary calls 24 hours a day, Gatto said. If all shift positions were totally filled, there would be a roster of 132 employees to fill the schedule.
But seven vacancies and likely another four in 2025 drive overtime costs when the fire department needs to fill all 33 slots each day across five stations, Gatto said. Overtime hours supplement the vacancies and fill the schedule when fire department employees take time off, like vacation days or sick days, Gatto said.
While most of the fire department employees who can earn overtime have a different wage, all overtime hours are paid at 125 percent of their salary, Gatto said.
Of the 50 weeks of payroll data Gatto supplied, paychecks dated Dec. 12 totaled the most overtime of any week: about $124,700. It’s one of 10 total weeks where overtime costs exceeded $100,000.
Gatto said the high overtime costs is likely due to people taking vacation time at the end of the year that does not carry over into the new year. Gatto said the last two weeks of the year will continue to incur overtime costs that weren’t available at the time of reporting.
Paychecks on Jan. 11 totaled the second-highest at about $116,910. Despite the high payout, Gatto said that he hasn’t noticed trends throughout the year that have driven overtime more than usual.
For example, the May fire that drove police overtime costs didn’t have a similar effect for the fire department. Paychecks paid out the week after the fire totaled about $85,400, the data shows.
Gatto said there weren’t excessive overtime costs that week because Norwalk’s fire department was supplemented by mutual aid from other local departments.
Paychecks from Feb. 22 paid out the least of all the weeks in the data this year: just over $62,000.
Norwalk Police Department
Norwalk’s police officers worked just under 29,940 overtime hours from New Year’s Day to Dec. 15, totaling $2.2 million in wages, Walsh said.
The department’s overtime wage budget is $2.8 million for this fiscal year, the chief said. Overtime costs are essentially driven by the same reasons as the fire department, Walsh said.
Overtime hours also supplement vacancies, he said. The department has the budget for a sworn force of 183 but has 181 on staff — which will increase to 182 when the department onboards a police academy recruit in January, Walsh said.
While officers are paid at different salary levels according to their experience, grade and seniority, Walsh said, they’re all paid 150 percent of their salary for overtime work.
The city is reimbursed by the vendors for the $73.12 hourly wage all police department employees earn if they do extra work, regardless of their grade or seniority, Walsh said. The city collects 7.5 percent of the cost of the extra work wages, which outside vendors pay, Walsh said in an email. Revenue from that administrative fee on extra work is recorded in the city’s general fund, according to city spokesperson Michelle Woods Matthews.
Officers are still in uniform and represent the city when they do extra work for jobs like standing by construction and utility work, fairs or local road races, the chief said. Compared to overtime, Norwalk’s police officers tallied significantly more hours and earned more overall from extra work in 2024.
In all of 2024, Norwalk’s police officers earned $8.1 million in extra work wages from 98,845 hours worked at 12,167 jobs, Walsh said. There can be more than one job at any site, Walsh said, if more than one officer is posted there.
Walsh identified two scenarios that drove overtime and extra work this year. First, the I-95 bridge fire in May.
- The Double-Edged Sword Of Overtime: A Guide To Financial Wellness And Balance
- Is Mandatory Overtime a Thing of the Past in Tallahassee (FL) Fire Department? Could Be!
- MA Mayor and Firefighters Tussle Over Sick Time/Overtime Flap and New Chief
“That whole event cost us $85,000 in overtime,” Walsh said, noting that payout was in addition to the week’s regular overtime costs.
The police department doles out between $25,000 and $30,000 in overtime pay each week, Walsh estimated. For four days from the morning of the fire and on, Walsh said the department staffed an extra 16 officers each shift around the clock assigned to traffic duties.
The other driver of officers’ additional work is widespread development in the city, Walsh said.
“There’s definitely a causation and correlation,” Walsh said. “The development that’s going on in this city and the infrastructure work, you have to understand.”
One example is the Walk Bridge project, which will create a new bridge for Metro-North and Amtrak trains over the Norwalk River and is slated for completion by 2029.
“The Walk Bridge project is several jobs a day, both night and day,” Walsh said. The remaining two weeks of the year will continue to have overtime costs as police department employees take time off, Walsh said.
___
(c)2024 The Hour (Norwalk, Conn.)
Visit The Hour (Norwalk, Conn.) at www.thehour.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.