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Audit Shows Big Increase In San Francisco's Overtime Spending

SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS)— The new overtime audit issued by San Francisco's city controller shows overspending by almost 40 percent, spending $23.4 million more on OT than last year.

The biggest over spender in this week's report appeared to be Muni, but Transportation Director Ed Reiskin said last year's hiring freeze led to the overtime problem.

"We have a fixed level of service that we provide. If we are missing an operator, we need to fill the seat to keep the buses running," Reiskin explained.

KCBS' Barbara Taylor Reports:

Muni is on its way to exceed its budget by $28.6 million this fiscal year.

The other big overtime spenders include the fire department at $8.5 million, followed by the police department, the City Public Utilities Commission and the Health Department.

A couple of years ago a new law was enacted to stop employees from racking up large amounts of overtime by requiring prior approval to exceed the limit.

In fact that approval is being sought retroactively and a "concerned and disappointed" Supervisor David Campos, who authored the law, wants to know why.

"Obviously we want to give folks the benefit of the doubt and hear exactly what happened, but this is very disturbing," he said.

He plans to call for a hearing with the Board of Supervisors.

The controller's report says a total of 252 city workers have already exceeded the maximum 520 hours of overtime allowed each year and that 858 are headed in that direction.

Overall, the city is poised to spend almost $168 million on overtime this year which is $47 million more than the overtime budget.

(Copyright 2012 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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