By Mark Gokavi
The Dayton Daily News
BEAVERCREEK TWP., Ohio — Overtime costs for the Beaver-creek Twp. Fire Department rose 11 percent in 2011 above 2010.
Of the total personnel costs of $5,058,557 in 2011, $388,811 came from overtime.
Of the 7,533 hours of overtime, 5,521 were considered operational, 1,565 were for programs, and the rest came from training and conferences.
“One of the biggest contributors to that is we had about 2,200 hours of work-related injury leave as a result of two significant injuries in the fire department,” Fire Chief David VandenBos said at a trustee meeting earlier this month.
“The operational overtime, which is staffing of the front-line apparatus, accounts for about 70 percent of the total overtime.”
VandenBos said nearly 100 24-hour shifts were covered due to those injuries.
Trustee Dan Paxson, a former Deputy Chief in the department, asked VandenBos for a breakdown of overtime costs.
Seven firefighters racked up 376 hours or more of overtime. Robert Negri had 677 hours, Robert Young had 575, followed by Ryan Williams (458), Jeremy Renner (432), Brian Hedrick (405) and Nathan Arndt (376). The OT of the other 32 firefighters listed ranged from 2 to 300 hours.
“I’m looking at these overtime numbers and some of this just doesn’t make sense to me,” Pax-son told VandenBos.
The chief said not all firefighters take overtime when it is presented, helping to explain the wide range of hours.
Some of the overtime came in bunches, with Negri having 129.5 hours in August 2011 and 99.75 in December 2011. Paxson asked VandenBos if fatigue was a concern.
The chief said those issues along with all OT costs will continue to be tracked and evaluated.
Copyright 2012 Dayton Newspapers, Inc.