New York City’s surge in parking summonses may be costing motorists, but it has been a boon to traffic enforcement agents, at least a third of whom have substantially increased their pay with hefty overtime earnings, city records show.þþMore than 700 agents increased their wages by 20 percent with overtime in the 2008 fiscal year. Some raised their pay by 50 percent or more. One agent even managed to double his income.þþIn all, the city doled out $13 million in overtime pay, on top of $68 million in regular pay to its traffic agents. But in terms of pure economics, it has been a worthy investment: Ticket agents generated $578.6 million in revenues for the city in fiscal 2008, up from $366.6 million in 2002.þþ“It’s very tough parking in the city,” said Radek Jaskolski, who frequently drives into Manhattan from Queens for Fox Plumbing. “We get more tickets than before, that I know. Maybe that’s why.”þþThe agents who earn the most overtime adhere to grueling schedules. In fiscal 2008, more than a dozen agents worked 300 or more days. Others routinely put in seven or more consecutive days of work. And one ticket writer worked 81 days straight. þþBut even fiscal watchdogs, who generally fault overtime as evidence of poor management, say they can understand the city’s penchant for it because spending on overtime may make more economic sense than filling new positions. þþWhile this is not true for the ticket-writing force, which has grown dramatically to reach a head count of 2,332 this summer, up from 1,559 in 2002, in other departments overtime may be used to compensate for a depleted staff. “It can be less costly to have municipal employees work overtime rather than hiring and having to pay not only salaries but fringe benefits for things such as pensions and health insurance, the cost of which have been growing exponentially,” said Doug Turetsky, a spokesman for the city’s Independent Budget Office.þþTraffic agents, who work for the Police Department, are among the lowest paid of the city’s enforcement personnel, and that, according to the agents’ union, may explain the desire of some agents to log large quantities of overtime.þþ“From our standpoint, we can’t get enough overtime,” said James Huntley, president of CWA Local 1182, which represents traffic and sanitation workers. “It’s like having a second job. The overtime is something we appreciate.”þþAfter putting in a 40-hour workweek, ticket agents, whose annual starting salary is $27,013, can earn time and a half in overtime pay, Mr. Huntley said. þþ“You have to ask N.Y.P.D. permission to work a second job,” Mr. Huntley said. “Why do that when you can ask for overtime?”þþThe Police Department points out that agents are not required to perform overtime. þþ“It’s not mandated by the department,” said Paul J. Browne, a police spokesman. “But as these are relatively low-paid jobs, we don’t have any shortage of volunteers.”þþMr. Browne also noted that when construction sites disrupt street traffic and force the department to provide parking and traffic enforcement, builders reimburse the city for the cost of the overtime.þþLabor experts observe that overtime is common among the uniformed services like police and fire, which must provide 24-hour coverage. New York City firefighters are even guaranteed 96 hours of overtime each year in their contract. þþThe problem with relying on overtime, said Carol Kellerman, president of the Citizens Budget Commission, a nonpartisan group that monitors city spending, is that it “becomes perceived as part of the salary.”þþ“It can turn into a de facto raise,” she said. “Then you are not really disclosing the true salary of the job. You’re not really telling the public what work force is needed to do the job and what it is being paid.”þþAlthough there are now more ticket writers than there have been at any other time this decade, there still seems to be plenty of overtime to go around — and Mr. Huntley said he hears few complaints about it at union meetings.þþ“The majority of people, they look for it,” he said. “They want to do more for their apartment, for their home, for their children. And if you take it from them, they might cry, some of them.”þþRalph Blumenthal contributed reporting.þþ
Source: NY Times
