Some San Francisco firefighters are raking in six-figure overtime paychecks because of staffing shortages that have department managers scheduling numerous extra shifts.
The San Francisco Chronicle points to a lieutenant at Station 39 on Portola Avenue who collected $221,000 in overtime last year, raising his total salary to $363,000:
If you're looking for a poster boy for the San Francisco Fire Department's out-of-whack overtime, meet Lt. Gary Altenberg of Station 39 on Portola Avenue.
Thanks largely to staffing shortages that had department management ordering up extra shifts, Altenberg pulled in $221,000 in overtime last year, raising his total paycheck to $363,000.
That's almost $50,000 more than what Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White made.
The newspaper says the fire department already has spent its $38 million overtime budget with two months to go in the fiscal year. It's asking the Board of Supervisors to approve another $4.1 million.
Firefighters union president Tom O'Connor tells the Chronicle some firefighters put in hundreds of hours of overtime a year. He blames chronic understaffing caused by the department's failure to fill 400 vacant positions.
Chief Joanne Hayes-White concedes that the current OT model is not sustainable.