Hurricane overtime pay for city managers questioned

Hurricane overtime pay for city managers questioned

BY PRU SOWERS

KONK LIFE STAFF WRITER

Hurricane Irma dumped more than water and wind damage on Key West. It also dumped thousands of dollars in overtime pay into the paychecks of several city officials.

While the hundreds of overtime hours put in by emergency services and public works employees to clean the city after Irma is not in dispute, some city department managers also were paid tens of thousands of dollars in overtime pay. City commissioners Sam Kaufman and Margaret Romero said they have fielded complaints from constituents asking why managers, who are paid a salary and not an hourly wage, were eligible for overtime pay. Kaufman asked City Manager Jim Scholl to compare Key West’s disaster pay policy to other municipalities to see if the local policy is consistent.

“I’d just like to know that and be able to answer those questions because there are folks who believe the pay is unreasonable. It appears from the outside that it’s excessive,” Kaufman said.

“I, too, have gotten many comments and concerns about it,” Romero said about management overtime pay after Irma. “When they sign up for management, that’s what they sign up for. I have heard nothing about what I’ll call rank and file getting the overtime.”

Key West implemented an emergency pay policy (EPP) in 2008. The policy says that salaried managers, who normally do not qualify for overtime pay, are eligible for disaster emergency pay – which is time and a half on top of their regular wage – from the day the mayor formally declares an emergency to the day he or she declares the emergency has ended. Mayor Craig Cates declared an emergency in Key West beginning on Sept. 6 and ending on Sept. 24. Hurricane Irma, a Category 4 storm, struck Key West on Sept. 10.

As a result of the massive preparation and clean-up effort before and after Irma, Key West spent $1.9 million over normal operating costs, most or all possibly eligible for reimbursement by FEMA, according to finance director Mark Finigan. Much of that overage went to non-exempt, hourly workers. But several department heads also received emergency overtime, including engineering director Jim Bouquet, $10,815; port and marina services director Doug Bradshaw, $10,850; human resources director Samantha Farist, $10,554; FEMA coordinator Scott Fraser, $12,781; city clerk Cheryl Smith, $11,554; assistant city manager Greg Veliz, $10,126; and parking director John Wilkins, $10,247.

City manager Jim Scholl and city attorney Shawn Smith did not receive any overtime pay for the hours of overtime they put in related to Hurricane Irma.

Finigan said that while non-exempt employees were eligible for overtime pay until Sept 24, city manager Scholl stopped exempt worker overtime pay eligibility on Sept. 18 because the immediate emergency was over. In addition, Finigan said, Scholl capped the number of EPP overtime hours for managers at 12 per shift, despite the fact many worked 17 and 18 hours a day. And while the role of some department managers was not obvious from their job description, everyone chipped in to get Key West up and running, Finigan said.

“The parking director obviously isn’t doing parking control during the [storm] event. They take on a multitude of functions, some directly related to their experience but a lot that’s not,” he said. “Everybody takes on a role. Someone has to do it.”

Finigan said he has not completed an in-depth look at the EPP in other cities. However, he is a member of the Florida Government Officers Association and saw several bulletins after Irma from different municipal officials asking their colleagues if they had an EPP and whether managers were eligible for disaster overtime pay.

“Some [of the policies] go all over the board. But by the end of the day, there was some recognition of additional compensation for exempt employees,” Finigan said about the on-line dialogue between association members.

Commissioner Billy Wardlow came out strongly in favor of giving emergency pay to all city workers who reported for duty after Irma hit. Wardlow, who did not evacuate, said he spent hours at City Hall watching the emergency team take action.

“Everybody that was here was an equal person. They’re not a city manager. They’re not this, they’re not that. They all worked on one level. I feel they deserved every penny they got because they did one hell of a job,” he said. “While everybody else was out of town, they were here protecting this city.”

“I agree with you, Commissioner,” echoed Mayor Craig Cates at the commission’s Nov. 8 meeting, where Kaufman brought up his overtime pay concerns

Keys Energy Services reported just over $1 million in overtime pay directly related to Hurricane Irma. Of that amount, non-exempt workers were paid $801,210 at a rate of time and a half. Exempt employees such as supervisors and directors were paid $253,904 in overtime at their standard hourly rate. Keys Energy CEO Lynne Tejada earned $9,762 for 108 hours during the emergency period, which ran from Sept. 11 to Oct. 7.

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