DiNapoli: N.Y. state agency overtime pay rose 16 percent last year

Overtime earnings at state agencies rose to a “record” $611 million in 2013, a nearly 16 percent increase over 2012.

That’s according to a new report that New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli released today.

Overtime-pay outlays in 2013 rose for the third straight year, DiNapoli’s office said in a news release.

State employees logged 14.8 million overtime hours last year, costing taxpayers a record $611 million.

“New York’s overtime bill is increasing and needs to be reined in,” DiNapoli said. “State agencies should take a hard look at how they are using overtime and for what. To hold the line on state spending, state agencies should double their efforts to reduce this expensive habit.”

DiNapoli’s report found overtime earnings were up by more than 27 percent for the seven-year period ending in 2013. Overtime represented nearly 4 percent of total payroll in 2013, the highest share in the years analyzed for the report, according to DiNapoli’s office.

Three agencies that operate institutional facilities — including the New York State Office of Mental Health (OMH), the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS), and the New York State Office for People with Developmental Disabilities — accounted for 63.5 percent of the overtime hours in 2013, the comptroller’s office said.

Total overtime hours dropped slightly at all three, compared with 2012.  Other agencies paid high hourly rates for overtime, such as the New York State Police, which spent an average of $74.35 per hour of overtime at a cost of $35 million, according to the state comptroller’s office.

DOCCS paid the next highest average of $51.18 per hour of overtime for a total of $160 million.

At the same time, DiNapoli’s report found that New York’s agency workforce has declined nearly 11 percent, from 180,564 in 2007 to 160,829 last year, excluding the State University of New York and City University of New York.

DiNapoli “regularly” reports on state-agency reliance on overtime, according to his office.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com