New report shows how much money HPD and HFD are spending on overtime

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- A new report outlines how much of your taxpayer money is going just into overtime for Houston's police and fire.

Overtime spending has been a focus for city leaders after the controller's office warned that it ballooned far beyond budget. Earlier this year, Controller Chris Hollins said the Houston Police Department and the Houston Fire Department were spending $50 million more than was budgeted.

Which is why a report released on Monday caught some by surprise.

"When I first got the presentation, I thought I was reading it wrong," Councilmember Sallie Alcorn said.

The report shows both police and fire spent less on overtime than the year before. HPD said its overtime spending went from about $40 million over the last couple of years to $30 million this year.

"We went through each division and looked at how we were spending overtime within each one of our investigative divisions, as well as patrol, and making sure that we're looking at every hour and every dollar that is spent," HPD Executive Assistant Chief Keith Seafous explained.

While HPD spent less on overtime, officials said they've had less need for additional hours.

"We've been lucky this year," Seafous said. "No natural disasters or big weather events have popped up."

With HFD, the figures show the overtime spending is down from the year before. However, it's still about $20 million more than two years ago.

HFD Chief Thomas Munoz said while there weren't long hours tied to natural disasters locally, they have had to spend more helping other areas.

"Just recently at the beginning of July, we had the Hill Country, and we did send some teams out there," Munoz said.

Both departments said additional staffing has helped. HPD has added about 200 personnel in two years.

HFD has about 300 more. Even with more staff, Munoz said they're searching for ways to save taxpayers money on overtime spending.

"There are some addresses that tend to use us quite a bit, which I've talked to you about," Munoz explained. "We're looking at that."

The numbers council saw showed they were right on budget with overtime. A much different picture than just a few months ago.

That's because council saw the huge gap and moved money into the department's budgets. As for this year, leaders say they've allocated more funds so they won't have to much as much money around.