Fran Spielman, City Hall Reporter, Chicago Sun-Times

Overtime at Chicago’s 911 emergency center more than doubled during the first two months of this year, thanks to a 13.2 percent increase in call volume and Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s decision to reduce the ranks of police and fire dispatchers, records show.

Police dispatchers wracked up 10,024 hours of overtime in January and February, at a cost of $516,642, compared to 5,247 hours with a $247,662 price tag during the same period a year ago, records show.

Fire dispatchers piled up 3,504 overtime hours at a cost of $220,653 during the two-month period, versus 1,521 hours and $96,366 a year ago.

The alarming increases – which came as the number of calls went up by 13.2 percent, or 108,000 calls – are outlined in an email on March 15 to 911 center department heads from James Carroll, finance director for the city’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications.

The email asks for “the reason” for the spike and a “plan to reduce” OT. “Hiring new employees is not an option,” he wrote.

The Emanuel administration blamed much of the overtime surge on an agreement with unions that expired last June that substituted cash overtime for compensatory time.

“The overtime payments this year are consistent with what we paid in previous years when the [agreement] was not in effect,” a spokeswoman said in an email to the Sun-Times.

During City Council budget hearings last fall, Gary Schenkel, executive director of OEMC, argued it made more sense to build in $3.2 million in annual overtime – roughly $8,000 per employee – than to hire more dispatchers, which would cost $120,000 a year per employee for salary and benefits.

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