Overtime is topic of discussion
BY TOYNETT HALL Staff Writer

HOWELL - In a $44.8 million municipal budget, the Township Council has established a policy that no department is immune from fiscal review.

The Howell Police Department's overtime budget was scrutinized during a Sept. 4 council meeting.

Police Chief Ronald T. Carter, PBA Local 228 President Guy Arancio and David Flaherty, the president of the Superior Officers Association, testified before the council.

The 2006 budget for police overtime was $225,000 and the actual money paid out in overtime was $413,060.

For 2007, the police department requested an overtime budget of $480,000 and the council provided that full amount in the budget.

According to information provided by township officials, as of Aug. 31 a total of $377,258 had been paid out in police overtime this year. That leaves about $102,700 in the overtime budget for the final four months of 2007.

Following a request by Deputy Mayor Robert Walsh to have a public discussion, and questions and observations by other council members, police brass were called in to explain the overtime expenditures.

According to Carter, this was the first time his department had been called before the council to discuss the amount of money being spent on overtime. He said the issue could have been explained in a two-minute telephone conversation.

During the meeting Carter said, "Overtime is what it is. Each year, overtime is going to increase. You have salary increases of 3.9 percent for all employees. You have to figure the overtime would have to increase by at least that."

In an interview with Greater Media Newspapers, Carter revealed his concern about the ongoing discussion of the overtime issue.

"I am concerned about how the whole manner of overtime is being presented to the public. It appears or there is an inference that the police department is doing something wrong and it is questioning the integrity of the police department as a whole," Carter said. "This is not the first time the mayor has questioned the integrity of the police department. It appears that he is using the police department as the scapegoat for higher taxes."

Mayor Joseph DiBella responded, saying, "Just because people ask questions does not mean they have disrespect for a leader of a department. It is because they have questions and they want to be comfortable so that they can explain to their constituents that every possible angle has been looked at.

"As an elected official I have an obligation to look at every department in the community and every area of township business. I have to do everything in my power to stabilize property taxes.

"No department is immune to appropriate fiscal review. I have enormous respect for the chief and for the department. This is business. I am trying to figure out what more can be done to protect the interest of taxpayers," Di- Bella said.

Police overtime is "a big line item in a big budget. It is not about the police department. It is about every department. It is the biggest department, the biggest expenditure. We have a fiduciary responsibility to manage the entire community, and health and safety and welfare is No. 1 in my book," DiBella said.

According to Carter, the police department presently has 95 officers.

A 2003 report, "Five Year Crime Analysis," prepared by the New Jersey State Police Uniform Crime Reporting Unit states that "Howell would need 36 additional police officers to attain the rate of Monmouth County and 46 additional police officers would be needed to attain the rate of the state."

According to Carter, "For every 1,000 residents, you would need 2.3 officers to attain the Monmouth County average; to attain the state average you would need 2.5 officers per 1,000 residents."

Howell's current population is between 53,000 and 55,000 people.

"We would need 127 men in the department to attain the Monmouth County average, and 138 to attain the state average," Carter said, adding that overtime within the police department is inevitable. He said the council has two options: "either pay the overtime to cover the shortage, or hire additional officers."