Top overtime earners

in city police department

All of these Youngstown police officers received at least $50,000 in overtime in 2024:

• Edward Kenney, detective sergeant, $150,681.

* Jerry J. Fulmer, detective sergeant, $134,175.

* Christopher A. Staley, detective sergeant, $82,844.

* Gerard Slattery, detective sergeant, $81,472.

* Mohammed Awad, lieutenant, $79,797.

* Jason Simon, captain, $77,910.

* Patrick Mulligan, patrol officer, $71,814.

* Frank Rutherford Jr., lieutenant, $70,026.

* Steven Gibson, patrol officer, $62,169.

* Gregory Mullennex, patrol officer, $59,908.

* Ryan Laatsch, detective sergeant, $58,166.

* Brian Butler, lieutenant, $57,901.

* William Burton, patrol officer, $54,901.

* John Bokesch, patrol officer, $51,774.

* Jacob Short, patrol officer, $51,317.

YOUNGSTOWN — Fifteen city police officers each made more than $50,000 in overtime in 2024, with one getting $150,681 — more than twice his regular salary.

Detective Sgt. Edward Kenney regularly worked six to seven days per week, typically getting 14 to 16 hours of overtime. Overall, he worked 2,736.5 hours of overtime, mostly at 1.5 times his salary with 147 hours of it on holidays at 1.75 times his salary. His base pay for 2024 was $71,858.

Kenney worked 15 hours on Christmas while getting holiday pay. He made $1,012 for 15 hours of overtime in addition to $276 in holiday pay on just that single day. On New Year’s Day in 2024, Kenney was paid $916 for 14.5 hours of overtime while also getting $276 in holiday pay.

Kenney also was paid overtime on days he was on vacation, like a number of other city police officers, particularly those of rank. For example, he took a vacation day on Dec. 23, getting his $276 daily pay, and then $759 for working 14 hours of overtime on that day.

All city police officers received 10% bonus payments from an unused American Rescue Plan grant. For Kenney and other detective sergeants, that was $7,186.

Kenney also received additional money for out-of-rank pay given to officers who cover for an officer at a higher rank.

Including those two payments and other bonuses given to officers such as longevity and hazardous duty pay, Kenney made $243,719 last year.

Kenney was the No. 1 overtime earner in 2023 at $139,296 and in 2022 at $79,824. He came close to doubling his city-high 2022 overtime only two years later.

Police Chief Carl Davis said: “Most, if not all, of Kenney’s overtime was earned while working in the city in uniform. He is supervised daily through a quasi-military style of layered supervision common to most police departments.”

Detective Sgt. Jerry J. Fulmer was the city employee to receive the second-most overtime in 2024 at $134,175. He was second in 2023 with the amount he received being $88,972.

In 2024, Fulmer’s total payment from the city was $223,494.

Of the 31 city employees who made more than $120,000 in total pay last year, 30 of them were police officers. The only non-police officer on the list was fire Chief Barry Finley at fifth because he received a $74,103 severance payment when he retired in March 2024 and was subsequently rehired.

City council approved $2 million in overtime for the police department in 2023 and 2024.

In 2023, police overtime was $2.92 million. But the 2023 budget for police wages was $8.94 million and the department ended that year at $8.07 million, so the savings was close to the additional money that went to overtime.

That wasn’t the case in 2024.

Police overtime last year was $3.25 million — $1.25 million more than council had budgeted. Meanwhile, the police wages budget was $8.47 million, and the department ended the year at $8.43 million.

Also, the city pays 19.5% of money earned by police officers toward their pensions. Overtime last year cost the city more than $630,000 in pension payments.

16-HOUR WORK DAYS

Davis said officers aren’t permitted to work more than 16 hours per day “unless extenuating circumstances exist.”

Asked if it was safe for an officer to work that many hours, Davis said: “Our nature of work requires us to be fluid and dynamic in response to rapidly developing situations. Each officer is closely supervised to ensure they have adequate rest and are fit for duty.”

Davis said officers working overtime while on vacation “is not a common practice, but there are instances where an officer may take vacation time for a personal obligation, such as an appointment, and later work an overtime shift. This can help minimize the need to mandate other officers to work overtime. There are also sometimes extenuating circumstances where this may occur, but it is not a regular occurrence.”

Mayor Jamael Tito Brown said he wouldn’t comment on specific employees, but “any time an officer is willing to put on their uniform to protect the residents of Youngstown, it’s a good use of city funds.”

Councilwoman Anita Davis, D-6th Ward and a retired Youngstown police detective sergeant who spent 36 years on the force, said the department’s overtime spending is “about people managing their personnel and making the necessary changes. That’s not happening and it’s insane. When does it stop? An individual (Kenney) working at the Youngstown Police Department pulled down almost $250,000.”

She questioned why police are getting out-of-rank pay rather than the police chief scheduling more ranking officers to work late shifts. That causes officers to receive higher salaries when, for example, a detective sergeant fills the role of a lieutenant.

“Move people around and schedule them properly,” Davis said.

The councilwoman also said: “I don’t believe an officer can be effective working that many hours. When are you sleeping? You’re supposed to be alert. We have people working 16 hours a day. You’re not at peak efficiency working that many hours. You have people working more overtime hours than regular hours. It’s a real head-scratcher.”

Councilman Pat Kelly, D-5th Ward who retired from the Youngstown force as a detective sergeant after 29 years on the job and is the current Youngstown school district’s chief of security, said the department’s overtime “is unacceptable; $280,000 went to just two people. And I don’t see it slowing down. Sixteen-hour work days are unhealthy and unsafe.”

Kelly said: “We’re obviously not getting the bang for our buck. There are people working seven days a week. It’s wrong. We can’t stop overtime, but how do we put a crawl to it because every year it’s going up?”

Davis said she wants the state auditor to review the city police department to make sure there’s “not an abuse of the system. We see a pattern here. Everyone is operating short-staffed. There will come a point where we can’t do anything else because the budget of the Youngstown Police Department is too high. The residents’ income levels aren’t sufficient to cover costs.”

Kelly agreed with Davis that the state auditor’s office should be brought in to review the police department’s operations.

“It’s the only way we’re going to get a good grip on it,” Kelly said. “How can we improve on this? This way it puts everything out in the open.”

Asked about criticism of how he manages the department, the police chief said, “I disagree. This is clearly a staffing issue. Last year, we provided numerous examples from across the country demonstrating that police overtime challenges are a nationwide issue, not unique to Youngstown. Our ability to reduce overtime is directly tied to our ability to hire and retain officers.”

RANKING OFFICERS

The top six overtime earners in the police department – and nine of the 15 to get at least $50,000 in overtime – were ranking officers, who are paid more than patrol officers.

The police chief said: “Overtime is almost always offered to everyone on an equal basis, regardless of rank. The dynamic that often occurs here, as well as many other police agencies, is that younger officers often do not want to work overtime and value their personal time off much more than older, more seasoned officers. The older officers often tend to be ranking officers. Furthermore, it is important to understand that ranking officers have a higher hourly rate so they are more likely to make that amount even if working the same amount of overtime as patrol officers.”

In 2024, a starting patrol officer made $21 per hour, which was $31.50 per hour in overtime, while a patrol officer at the top of the scale made $30.04 per hour, which is $45.06 per hour in overtime. A detective sergeant made $34.55 per hour, which is $51.83 per hour in overtime; a lieutenant made $39.73 per hour, which is $59.60 per hour in overtime; and a captain made $45.69 per hour, which is $68.54 per hour in overtime.

Davis said: “The primary driver of increased overtime in 2024 was low staffing. Our number of officers has steadily declined in recent years, creating significant gaps that must be filled with overtime to maintain adequate police coverage. In 2023 alone, 14 officers left the department while we were only able to hire five new officers – a net loss that further strained our workforce.”

Davis said as the cost of salaries, benefits and overtime has risen, the department’s “static budget has made it increasingly difficult to manage personnel expenses effectively. Without a competitive pay structure, we continue to face challenges in both recruiting and retaining officers, which directly contributes to increased overtime spending.”

Davis said he expects it to continue as the department, like other police forces, struggles to attract candidates.

“We often lose officers to higher-paying agencies in the surrounding area,” Davis said. “We are hoping the police cadet program can help” stop this.

The program calls for 15 cadets to be paid $16.49 per hour that allows people to work with law enforcement while the city pays for academy training. Once a cadet graduates from the police academy and passes the city’s civil service test, he or she can be hired as patrol officers and must stay with the department for at least three years.

The cadet program “should ultimately improve staffing and reduce overtime,” Davis said. “However, retention remains a major concern. No matter how many officers we hire, we will continue to face staffing shortages if we cannot compete with higher-paying agencies in the region.”

Brown said staffing continues to be an issue for the city police department.

“This is a combination of a recruiting issue police departments are seeing across the entire (country) and the fact that we lose candidates to surrounding departments in the area that can offer higher starting salaries,” Brown said. “In that environment, using OT is a critical tool to ensuring the safety of our residents.”

The mayor added: “Addressing this is going to require a willingness to increase funding for salaries that will help YPD be more competitive while retaining-recruiting officers and less reliant on overtime, and have more patrols on the streets and ultimately keep our residents safe.”