LIHU‘E — Kaua‘i County Council members are demanding answers from Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr.’s administration over the hundreds of thousands of dollars in overtime and sick leave incurred by the Solid Waste Division. County Engineer Larry Dill told the council
LIHU‘E — Kaua‘i County Council members are demanding answers from Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr.’s administration over the hundreds of thousands of dollars in overtime and sick leave incurred by the Solid Waste Division.
County Engineer Larry Dill told the council Wednesday that the division’s workers made $12,237 on average in overtime during Fiscal Year 2010, which started July 1, 2009. Two employees made almost $40,000 each in overtime alone during that period.
“It’s just staggering the amount of overtime. I would guess that the $38,000 (in overtime for one of the employees) might be pretty close to the salary,” Councilman Mel Rapozo said.
“That’s probably a good guess,” Dill said. “I don’t know the details.”
During FY10, SWD workers called in sick an average of 138.4 hours. They are entitled to 168 hours, or 21 days, maximum each year, said Dill, who heads the Public Works Department which the Solid Waste Division falls under.
Dill said all sick leave is used and approved in accordance with the union contract.
Transfer stations and the landfill are open seven days a week. Employees are scheduled to work 10 hours per day, four days a week. On Tuesdays, two schedules overlap, Dill said, and on those days there are many instances where employees call in sick.
“This is indicating some kind of problem, is it not?” Councilwoman JoAnn Yukimura said.
“It indicates an issue that we are looking into, yes,” Dill said.
Dill on March 2 asked the council to appropriate $269,238 to cover overtime paid between July 2010 and December 2010. The six months of overtime was partly incurred due to a two-day-per-month furlough period that the mayor established. The county has claimed the savings from the program, which officially ended in January, amounted to $2.3 million.
Kekaha Landfill employs 19 workers. All transfer stations combined on Kaua‘i employ 24 workers. The entire SWD has 63 filled field positions, plus one vacancy that will be filled soon, Dill said.
During the last half of last year, those 43 workers at the landfill and transfer stations were called back to work a combined 121 times due to furloughs, he said.
Dill, who Carvalho appointed in November to replace Donald Fujimoto, provided council members more details this week that they requested on overtime and sick leave incurred during FY10.
OT in FY11 down 45%
County documents show 62 SWD employees received $595,177 in overtime in FY10.
Forty employees received overtime pay up to $10,000; 14 employees received between $10,001 and $20,000; six employees received between $20,001 and $27,000; and two employees received more than $37,500.
The lowest overtime paid was $222; the highest was $38,737.
Dill said the majority of overtime had been incurred by the refuse collection crews.
“With available staffing and equipment, the manual crews must consistently pick up greater than the amount of units stipulated in the union contract which results in regular overtime,” he said.
Dill told council members that solid waste collection workers are supposed to pick up trash from 600 units; when that number increases, overtime happens.
Automated pick-up can collect trash from 1,000 units before overtime is incurred, Dill said.
“Overtime costs in FY2011 to date have been reduced by approximately 45 percent as compared to FY2010 … largely through the initiation of implementation of automated collection,” said Dill, adding that the division is in discussion with the union on adding more automated collection routes.
At Wednesday’s council meeting, Dill said he was told there was an overall savings of 18 percent during the furlough period.
“Overtime is also incurred when employees do not report as scheduled due to sick leave, vacation, etc.,” Dill said. “Staff must then be called in on an overtime basis in order to meet minimum staffing requirements in order to keep the various transfer stations, refuse pickup, and landfill operations open and servicing the public.”
Sick leave accumulates until retirement, when sick days are credited to the employee’s years of service, he said.
New hires
Carvalho’s proposed operating budget for FY10 called for a two-day-per-month furlough program. The county expected to save $4.6 million that fiscal year, which ends June 30, 2011.
Six months into the furloughs, county officials decided to halt the program. The administration requested a money bill, which the council approved, appropriating $2.4 million from the General Fund to end furloughs effective Jan. 1.
On Dec. 1 — before asking the council to appropriate funds to end the furloughs — the administration had hired 26 new employees, according to county spokeswoman Mary Daubert. She said the county has not laid off anyone since that date.
• Léo Azambuja, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) or lazambuja@kauaipubco.com.
