Overtime among public employees not limited to public safety personnel

By Conor Shine

Friday, Aug. 30, 2013 | 2 a.m.

Extra shifts for police, firefighters and other public employees added up, costing local governments in Southern Nevada about $60 million in overtime pay in 2012.

Although overtime makes up only a fraction of the billions these governments spend on salaries and benefits for their employees, it is one area administrators have some control over, and they’ve been cutting back in recent years as budgets tightened.

Still, that didn’t stop hundreds of employees from making tens of thousands of dollars in overtime pay in 2012, according to an analysis of salary data obtained by the Sun from Clark County, Las Vegas, North Las Vegas, Henderson and Metro Police.

The most overtime hours, and consequently the most pay, goes to police, firefighters and other public safety employees.

In the Clark County Fire Department, which found itself at the center of a sick leave and overtime abuse scandal in 2010, 33 employees made at least $30,000 in overtime in 2012. The highest payout went to firefighter Jeff Reagor, who received $50,050.84 in overtime pay on top of $83,866 in base salary.

In Las Vegas, fire investigator Laura Brown raked in $70,348 in overtime last year, the most among city of Las Vegas employees. The fire department as a whole paid out $13.7 million in overtime; 192 of the department’s employees earned at least $30,000 in overtime.

High overtime payouts for firefighters, police, corrections officers and others can be attributed to a number of factors, including union contracts, mandatory minimum staffing levels and unusual shift patterns — for instance, Clark County firefighters work 24-hour shifts, increasing the amount of overtime available any time they have to fill in.

And while the vast majority of overtime pay goes to these public safety employees, thousands of workers responsible for everything from construction projects to inspections earned millions in overtime last year.

Here’s a look at the top 10 overtime earners in the public sector in 2012 employed in departments outside of public safety:

• John Rodriguez

  Employer: Clark County

  Department: Real Property Management

  Job Title: Construction project coordinator

  Overtime: $36,633

  Base Salary: $80,828

• Michael Knerr

  Employer: Clark County

  Department: Aviation

  Job Title: Senior systems technician

  Overtime: $32,824

  Base Salary: $78,894

• Enrique Binyons

  Employer: Clark County

  Department: Administrative Services

  Job Title: Park police officer

  Overtime: $32,088

  Base Salary: $77,418

• Joseph Wichert

  Employer: Las Vegas

  Department: Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services

  Job Title: Principal community program specialist

  Overtime: $54,475

  Base Salary: $65,137

• Arthur Diebold

  Employer: Las Vegas

  Department: Administrative Services

  Job Title: Business specialist

  Overtime: $32,969

  Base Salary: $90,366

• James Wilkerson Jr.

  Employer: North Las Vegas

  Department: Public Works

  Job Title: Public works inspector

  Overtime: $32,755

  Base Salary: $82,613

• Marc Walters

  Employer: Las Vegas

  Department: Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services

  Job Title: Senior technical systems analyst

  Overtime: $31,300

  Base Salary: $90,488

• Carol Diaz

  Employer: Las Vegas

  Department: Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services

  Job Title: Senior technical systems analyst

  Overtime: $29,035

  Base Salary:$90,579

• Juan Leon

  Employer: North Las Vegas

  Department: Public Works

  Job Title: Public works inspector

  Overtime: $28,319

  Base Salary:$82,588

• Russell Davis

  Employer: Clark County

  Department: Aviation

  Job Title: Airport operations dispatcher

  Overtime: $27,819

  Base Salary:$54,995