SAN DIEGO — The San Diego Police Department and San Diego Fire Department are projected to go way over budget for overtime.
The police department is citing ongoing staffing shortages along with violent crime for the uptick in overtime hours. It's estimated to surpass its $40 million overtime budget by an extra $9.2 million this fiscal year.
As of two weeks ago, SDPD had 202 vacant positions for sworn officers and is losing an additional 16 per month, according to city documents.
Even in a best-case scenario, the city's budget report says it will take four to five years to reach full staffing. This timeframe means police overtime won't likely be going away anytime soon.
Meanwhile, the San Diego Fire Department is estimated to have $15.7 million in extra overtime in addition to $32.7 million that's already budgeted.
The fire department is losing about five firefighters each month. However, they hope to reach full staffing by this fall as fire academy graduates join the department.
SDPD and SDFD are getting more in overtime pay than any other city department. All this information was presented as part of the mid-year budgeting report to the San Diego City Council Monday.
The city council didn't take any action related to the overtime but this information could drive them towards new policies to hire and help lessen the burden of these staffing shortages.
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