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HomeMy WebLinkAboutREP FC 400 09/21/1987 1984-1988 • REPORT OF THE • COMMITTEE ON FINANCE Date: September 21 , 1987 Re: Comm . 1182 .1 Place: Councilroom Time: 10 :00 a .m . Chairman and Members Hawaii County Council Hilo, Hawaii 96720 Your Committee on Finance , to which was referred Resolution No . 347-87 , reports as follows: The purpose of Resolution No . 347-87 is to transfer and appropriate ` 4246 ,181 as follows: Out and From: 010-911-5911 .13-341 CONTINGENCY ACCOUNT $246 ,181 Credited To: 010-201-5215 .38-341 POLICE OVERTIME CONVERSION $246 ,181 The reason for the transfer of funds is for the purpose of converting compensatory time off into cash for certain Police Department personnel . Together with an additional $24 ,000 requested in a separate communication (Comm . 1255 ) , this represents a total of 75 percent of the total compensatory time off outstanding. Your Committee on Finance has been informed by the Personnel • Director about the following concerns regarding compensatory time and overtime payments in the SHOPO contract: • "This is to inform you that Hawaii County is the only county in the state that is not in compliance with the SHOPO contract in reference to comp time and overtime payments . Even before collective bargaining was established, State law required that' an employee be given his choice between taking compensatory time off or being paid in cash when an overtime situation occurred . "This principle was incorporated in the SHOPO contract but, in order to prevent large buildups of compensatory time off , provisions were made for a limit on the accumulation that any individual police officer could accrue and for the department to pay for overtime in cash at the request of the employee or on its own initiative when the contractual limit of comp time was reached . FC REPORT No . 400 ADOPTED : OCT 7 1987 111 111 FC- 400 Page 2 September 21 , 1987 "The inability of the Police Department to comply with the contract because of unrealistic appropriations for the salary and wages budget has caused Hawaii County to be in violation of the SHOPO contract and liable for substantial accumulations of overtime payments ." Your Committee on Finance has been further advised that steps have been taken to try to alleviate this problem by meeting with the Police Chief and the SHOPO representative . The Personnel Director further feels that it is a very serious matter adversely affecting police morale . He suggested that there should be cooperation between the Police Department , the Director of Finance , the Mayor and the Council in order to try to solve the problem. Your Committee on Finance received testimonies from representatives of the State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers (SHOPO) , the Chairman of the Police Commission and the Police Chief who made the following points in support of the resolution: 1 . The SHOPO State Vice President met with the Police Chief , Chairman of the Council and the Mayor in trying to arrive at an equitable solution to the overtime problem . 2 . That it is incumbent upon the Council to adhere to the terms of the SHOPO contract and pay the police what is owed them . 3 . That the police , like other public servants , such as the Councilmembers, Mayor , Governor , et al should not be expected to work without being duly compensated. 4. That the police have financial obligations that need to be met and the overtime pay is crucial to their economic well-being . 5 . The overtime should be paid to "sworn personnel" , members of SHOPO, first before others . 6 . That we should not be caught in a similar bind as did San Jose in which the police had amassed about 264 ,000 hours in overtime . 7 . That the reason for the large amount of overtime is primarily due to inadequate funding . Hawaii County with an overtime rate of $659 per person per year is the lowest of all the counties in the state . 8 . That despite underbudgeting, the police on the Big Island have produced some positive results , such as a low rate of crime , strict DUI enforcement which has helped to lower the accident fatality rate , a spectacular drug eradication program, strict enforcement of the seat belt law and a crime-solving rate of 37 percent . 111 r FC- 400 Page 3 September 21 , 1987 In discussion with the Police Chief and Director of Finance , your committee confirmed that the Council did not amend the overtime request during its 1987-88 budget deliberations . Upon further inquiry , it was disclosed that the overtime requests of the Police Department was pared as the last resource to comply with the budget reduction request of the Finance Director . Although the outstanding overtime , as of May 1987 , amounted to $345 ,708 , the 1987-88 budget, as submitted to the Council , was drastically underbudgeted without disclosure . Upon questioning as to how this overtime budget shortfall occurred , the Director of Finance indicated that he will have to check into the matter . Your committee agrees that the overtime obligation must be paid, however , the committee could not agree with the use of the Contingency Account for such purpose . Recognizing severe budget shortages for collective bargaining , your committee intends to maintain the Contingency Account until such time as the collective bargaining adjustment impacts for all salaries and wages are accommodated . Your committee has amended Resolution 352-87 , Bill 406 and Bill 408 to provide $182 ,883 for police overtime payments . Your committee also indicated that the delay in filling the two Police Major positions have resulted in savings of 00 ,000 which could be applied toward the resolution of the overtime problem. The department was also instructed to find the remainingfunds from existing budgeted e items and to clear the obligation . Your Committee on Finance thus recommends that Resolution 347-87 be received and filed . (e'g # FRANK DE LUZ III, CHAIRMAN / ‘Vi%%* LORRA E RrCHAKU-IN'UYE V.C. - ' " . - L. K. DAHLBERG, MEMBER .a 7-102-04-4i grif TAKASHI DOMINGO, 47MB 'USSELL S. KOKUBU ,, MEMBER -- lir . /' MERLr K. LAI, ME' . - ' S'ENCER K. SCHUTTE, MEMBER LA/KK/HAT