Riverside County sheriff spent $66 million on overtime last year, dwarfing other county agencies

Riverside County's sheriff's department, medical center and department of public social services account for the the largest share of the county's ballooning $121 million in employee overtime. And the sheriff's department alone makes up for over half of that, a new report shows.

The Riverside County auditor-controller submitted a review of overtime for fiscal year 2021-22 to the county’s board of supervisors in advance of its meeting Tuesday.

The report provided an overview of the nine departments that paid more than $1 million in overtime. Several public safety departments were included: probation, district attorney and fire department. And the Riverside University Health Services had three units included: the medical center, public health and behavioral health.

The sheriff’s department’s $66,179,664 in overtime, however, accounted for more than the other eight top spenders combined. The department has by far the largest budget of any county agency, spending more than $681 million on salaries and benefits in the fiscal year studied.

The department’s $66 million in overtime amounts to nearly 10% of its payroll budget, the highest percentage of any department. The registrar of voters’ $1 million spent on overtime, amounts to 9% of its payroll budget. (The audit period included the primary election in June.) And the fire department approved overtime amounting to 8% of its payroll budget.

A total of 269 sheriff’s department employees earned more than 50% of their base pay in overtime in the audit period, about 66% of the 407 county employees that surpassed the benchmark. Riverside University Health System Medical Center had the second most, with 49.

The sheriff’s department employs seven of the county’s top ten overtime earners. Three are sheriff’s department communications supervisors. The Desert Sun previously reported on a communications supervisor receiving back pay for an employment dispute related to a union-busting lawsuit.

A deputy sheriff received more than $175,000 in overtime, amounting to 169% more than their base pay. And a sheriff’s lead investigator, a sergeant and a correctional deputy all earned more than double their base pay in overtime.

The report included responses from each department studied. The sheriff’s department said about 42% of its overtime last year was reimbursed by grants, court security funding, special event charges and cities that contract with the sheriff’s department for police services.

Contract city rates have risen steadily in recent years, recently the city of Coachella delayed a vote on its budget because of concern about a $600,000 jump in its payment to the sheriff for police services. The Board of Supervisors approved last year a 4.74% increase in the sheriff's department's contract city rates retroactive to 2020.

"Overtime at the Sheriff’s Department is by any standard well within existing professional parameters," the department responded to the report’s findings. "It is tightly managed."

The department’s overtime hasn’t dropped below $63 million since Bianco took office in 2019, while it was about $45 million in fiscal year 2018, just before his election.

The RUHS Medical Center, a county-run hospital in Moreno Valley, reported more than $20 million in overtime costs, according to the report. Those costs have gone down since fiscal year 2018, when the department reported more than $21 million in overtime, amounting to about 9.8% of its payroll budget.

The hospital's overtime for the audit period dropped to 4.6% of its $440 million payroll budget. And 49 department employees make more than 50% of their base pay in overtime.

An institutional nurse made more than 136% and two licensed vocational nurses make about 110% of their base pay in overtime.

The medical center utilizes a an electronic timekeeping and productivity system for analyzing overtime, according to RUHS' written response included in the audit.

"When negative trends are noted, managers are asked to explain any significant variances and develop a plan of correction," the department wrote.

The department of public social services has doubled its overtime expense since fiscal year 2018. At more than $12.1 million, the department spent the third most on overtime in the audit period.

The department's overtime amounted to 3% of its payroll budget of just more than $400 million.

The department was recently investigated in connection with the Turpin siblings abuse case and several other scandals that resulted in a number of leadership changes. Workload and staffing were mentioned as contributing factors in the subsequent investigations.

Twenty-six DPSS employees make more than 50% of their base pay in overtime. A social services practitioner and supervisor make about 80% more than their base pay in overtime.

"The department will continue to monitor overtime utilization while ensuring that critical services continue to be provided in accordance with established regulations," reads a DPSS response included in the report.

The audit also included banked overtime, which is overtime pay earned by an employee that can be used in the future.

From fiscal year 2018 to 2022, the sheriff's department's banked overtime has nearly doubled from $1.8 to $3.5 million. The banked overtime for the other two top spenders, the medical center and DPSS, have fallen over that same time period: from $502,000 to $360,000 and $574,000 to $399,000, respectively.

Christopher Damien covers public safety and the criminal justice system. He can be reached at christopher.damien@desertsun.com or follow him at @chris_a_damien.