More than a dozen MPD officers earn more than the chief, thanks to overtime pay

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- Several Milwaukee police officers and firefighters earned more money last year than the men leading their departments. It was largely due to overtime payouts that topped $100,000 in some cases.

Monday the Common Council's budget committee discussed the police department's overtime payouts as the city's budget process continued.

We analyzed the city's public finance data and found 14 police officers and six firefighters made more than their chiefs. The smallest overtime payout was $37,000, the largest was more than $114,000.

At the budget hearing, Police Chief Jeffrey Norman said, "I believe we are using good overtime measures and accountability."

But publicly-available finance data shows the police department relies heavily on overtime pay to meet staffing needs.

One officer earned $99,000 in overtime, more than half their $187,000 gross pay.

But it's not just a police issue: 56% of one Milwaukee firefighter's pay came from overtime for a total of more than $114,000 just in OT pay.

The mayor's current budget proposal cuts 17 officers to meet limited revenue. And Chief Norman said even day-to-day operations are a challenge when staffing levels are down. "Not having the same level of personnel causes, again, a trickle effect. What we call backfill."

There are several reasons for it: the court system's return to in-person proceedings has posed a big challenge to staffing. Critical incidents -like when three officers were shot in January- make it difficult to limit overtime. And Chief Norman said special events throughout the year play a major roll. "These things are put on us when there are activities. Where is the… funding is going to come from places… the expectation that we are fulfilling those roles."

The police department's budget and administration manager said some changes to legislation have been proposed in order to have organizations pay for police services.

But right now, they say staffing special events is largely out of their control.

Veronica Rudychev is MPD's budget & administration manager. She said, "If there is not enough officers on the street to handle these incidents, we do have to put officers onto the street on overtime in order to ensure the city is being protected."

Rudychev works with different captains to assess their overtime use and their staffing needs, then prepares overtime reports for each respective area of the department.

She said, "I think having those open and honest conversations has tremendously helped us because it has given us the opportunity to see where the trends are, where we perhaps need to do a better job of monitoring."

Police officials were asked if overtime is voluntary or mandated. They said it depends on the division within the department. Right now, overtime is mandated in the booking division because of staffing challenges.