ALBANY – State government overtime pay jumped 10.1 percent last year – costing taxpayers $481.6 million – even as the number of workers on the state payroll reached its highest level since Mario Cuomo was governor.
Last year’s bill for overtime was even higher than what the state paid out in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, according to figures compiled for The Post by the state Comptroller’s Office.
“Clearly, overtime is an area that should be targeted for reduction,” said E.J. McMahon, director of the Manhattan Institute’s Empire Center for New York State Policy. “It raises questions about staffing patterns.”
The increase in overtime comes despite a recent report by McMahon showing that the state work force during Gov. Spitzer‘s first nine months in office grew by 3,158 to a full-time total of 235,014, the highest since 1994, Cuomo’s last year in office.
Spitzer, during his recent budget presentation, acknowledged a need to rein in overtime costs.
No one agency paid more OT last year than the state prison system, which doled out close to $100 million in extra pay, up 27.8 percent from 2006.
State mental-health workers made a combined $77.9 million in overtime last year, an 8.6 percent increase over 2006.
The State Police was the only major agency to see its overtime drop last year. The agency’s overtime fell 17.3 percent, to $43.1 million, down from $52.2 million.