Translate
Performance Audit of Jail Overtime
October 9, 2006
This performance audit examined the use of overtime by the Department of Adult and Juvenile Detention (DAJD) in relation to operating its two jails for adult inmates. This topic has been of interest to county policy-makers because overtime expenditures have been growing and exceeding overtime budgets over the last several years.
Audit Highlights
This Auditor’s Office recognized, strictly on hourly cost basis, the use of overtime to carry out jail operations was not more expensive than hiring additional full time staff to perform the same functions. However, the department’s use of compensatory time and the limits set on vacation leave by the Collective Bargaining Agreement of corrections officers were found to be two inefficient practices that were sources of avoidable overtime and lead to increased costs to the county.
Recommendations included completing further development and evaluation of the Operational Forecast Model (an analytical tool used to help identify the most cost-effective mix of staffing resources) with the objective of using it for the 2008 operating budget proposal. We also recommended that the department take steps to eliminate the use of comp time in lieu of overtime and to lower the caps on the amount of vacation, holiday, and compensatory leave that could be covered by existing staffing levels.
Overtime expenditures for the county’s jails doubled from approximately $3.1 million in 2002 to $6.6 million in 2005, a rate of growth exceeding increases in budget and FTEs.