Friday, November 8, 2024
Hawai'i Free Press

Current Articles | Archives

Friday, October 16, 2015
Kauai Overtime Expenditures Out of Taxpayer’s Pockets
By Grassroot Institute @ 5:12 AM :: 5385 Views :: Kauai County, Labor

Overtime Expenditures Out of Taxpayer’s Pockets

by Joselyn Olinares, Grassroot Institute, Oct 14, 2015

The money spent on overtime expenditures is not “free money”, it comes from somewhere (or rather someone).  Any guesses to who that someone is? — It’s you, the taxpayer.

Kauai taxpayers are on the hook for public employee overtime and benefits, which have shown a growth in spending in recent years.

In Hawaii, overtime is calculated into a public employee’s pension.  If a public employee can spike their overtime, this also spikes their pension, and Police Departments have the most generous pension calculation formula.

This has led to overtime and pension spiking across Hawaii’s Police Departments, and Kauai is no exception.

In 2005, suspicion arose when the Kauai Police department had a $321,628 budget overrun. According to the Honolulu Star-Bulletin[1], the Chief of Police commented saying, “This is not a blame game; this is a learning experience,”  However this learning experience is taking a toll on taxpayers.

In 2011, the County of Kauai spent $5,774,743.07 on overtime alone.  Kauai Police employees accounted for the bulk of overtime expenditures that year, at 35.39%[2].

Overtime costs on Kauai have averaged over $5 million since 2013[3].  The Kauai Police Department accounted for about 56% of the total overtime expenses for the county of Kauai.

According to Keli’i Akina, Ph.D., president of the Grassroot Institute, “Overtime is a necessary option to serve the public good, and most government employees do not abuse it.  Unfortunately, since overtime is still calculated into a public employee’s pension level, there is often an incentive to ‘game the system.’  This practice needs to be monitored and reformed.”

Dr. Akina continues, “Our new transparency website, OpenHawaii.org, is now available as a tool to help Kauai’s citizens hold their public departments accountable.”

Data on OpenHawaii.org shows Police Officers raking in the top ten highest overtime payouts for fiscal years 2011-2014[4].  The highest amount received for overtime by a single Police Officer was $59,590.65 in 2011; $60,037.55 in 2012, $79,874.27 in 2013; and finally $45,091.69 in 2014.  This data shows that for the years 2011-2013, the highest amount of overtime paid out steadily increased and only in 2014 did it decrease[5].

For example, one officer on Kauai with a maximum base salary of $76,710 made more than $79,874 in overtime, and $64,511 in retirement and other pay, totaling to $221,095 for one fiscal year — all on taxpayer’s dime.

Officers on Kauai with high overtime payouts also received among the highest benefits for retirement and other pay.

Although police overtime may be needed in some cases, it’s hard to justify overtime numbers that are double the maximum base salary.   This kind of overtime is not only unnecessary, but it’s also abusive to the taxpayers pockets, who pay even more when this is used to spike a public pension[6].

As said before, money is not free, someone has to pay it.  Question is— have you, the taxpayer, had enough?

This article originally appeared in The Garden Island.

[1] http://archives.starbulletin.com/2005/09/16/news/story8.html

[2] http://openhawaii.org/KAUAI%20SALARY%20DATA

[3] http://thegardenisland.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/clocking-in-on-county-overtime/article_9d474502-cdda-11e3-aa43-0019bb2963f4.html

[4] http://openhawaii.org/KAUAI%20SALARY%20DATA

[5] http://openhawaii.org/KAUAI%20SALARY%20DATA

[6] Ibid

Links

TEXT "follow HawaiiFreePress" to 40404

Register to Vote

2aHawaii

Aloha Pregnancy Care Center

AntiPlanner

Antonio Gramsci Reading List

A Place for Women in Waipio

Ballotpedia Hawaii

Broken Trust

Build More Hawaiian Homes Working Group

Christian Homeschoolers of Hawaii

Cliff Slater's Second Opinion

DVids Hawaii

FIRE

Fix Oahu!

Frontline: The Fixers

Genetic Literacy Project

Grassroot Institute

Habele.org

Hawaii Aquarium Fish Report

Hawaii Aviation Preservation Society

Hawaii Catholic TV

Hawaii Christian Coalition

Hawaii Cigar Association

Hawaii ConCon Info

Hawaii Debt Clock

Hawaii Defense Foundation

Hawaii Family Forum

Hawaii Farmers and Ranchers United

Hawaii Farmer's Daughter

Hawaii Federation of Republican Women

Hawaii History Blog

Hawaii Jihadi Trial

Hawaii Legal News

Hawaii Legal Short-Term Rental Alliance

Hawaii Matters

Hawaii Military History

Hawaii's Partnership for Appropriate & Compassionate Care

Hawaii Public Charter School Network

Hawaii Rifle Association

Hawaii Shippers Council

Hawaii Together

HiFiCo

Hiram Fong Papers

Homeschool Legal Defense Hawaii

Honolulu Navy League

Honolulu Traffic

House Minority Blog

Imua TMT

Inouye-Kwock, NYT 1992

Inside the Nature Conservancy

Inverse Condemnation

July 4 in Hawaii

Land and Power in Hawaii

Lessons in Firearm Education

Lingle Years

Managed Care Matters -- Hawaii

MentalIllnessPolicy.org

Missile Defense Advocacy

MIS Veterans Hawaii

NAMI Hawaii

Natatorium.org

National Parents Org Hawaii

NFIB Hawaii News

NRA-ILA Hawaii

Obookiah

OHA Lies

Opt Out Today

Patients Rights Council Hawaii

Practical Policy Institute of Hawaii

Pritchett Cartoons

Pro-GMO Hawaii

RailRipoff.com

Rental by Owner Awareness Assn

Research Institute for Hawaii USA

Rick Hamada Show

RJ Rummel

School Choice in Hawaii

SenatorFong.com

Talking Tax

Tax Foundation of Hawaii

The Real Hanabusa

Time Out Honolulu

Trustee Akina KWO Columns

Waagey.org

West Maui Taxpayers Association

What Natalie Thinks

Whole Life Hawaii