Louisville Metro's $30M overtime payouts are a sign of understaffing and increased workload

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Since January, the city of Louisville has shelled out close to $30 million in overtime pay to Metro Government employees.

Police and corrections officers sit at the top of the list.

According to online records available from the Louisville Metro Open Data portal, the highest payout has gone to LMPD Sgt. Ronald Fey, with $85,000. He retired at the beginning of the month, but was on track to at least double his $102,000 salary.

LMPD Sgt. Ronald Fey had the highest payout in the first seven months of 2024, with $85,000.

LMPD

"We are thankful for the nearly 2,000 men and women who work as first responders or emergency officials within Metro Government," Kevin Trager, Press Secretary for the Office of Mayor Craig Greenberg, said when asked about overtime pay. "Our administration is taking significant action to make Louisville safer by investing in the resources needed to address crime and protect more lives, and that includes ensuring we have the staff to fill important public safety duties and responsibilities."

Here's the list of top 10 overtime earners as of July 31, 2024:

LMPD Sgt. Ronald Fey: $85,546
LMPD Sgt. Todd Jenkins: $76,300
Corrections officer Royce Standard: $67,343
LMPD officer Eric Ernst: $63,600
LMPD officer Youssef Mattiche: $63,297
Corrections officer Richardson Stimphil: $61,959
LMPD officer Paul Fenwick: $60,689
LMPD officer Auguste Ahebee: $53,781
LMPD officer Michael Burns: $53,470
LMPD officer Daniel Kaiser: $51,229

The amount of overtime pay has some Louisville residents concerned. "It makes me unhappy," Ellis Bryant said. "We have to be able to hire the necessary folks so that overtime isn't required."

Danny Thomas, who retired after serving as a Louisville firefighter for 27 years, said he thinks the people receiving overtime pay earn it for the hours they put in.

"They have to have people to do the work, and the employees deserve the money," Thomas said.

While the resources have changed over the years Thomas believes the hard labor of public safety workers remains the same.

"It takes a special person to be a firefighter and a police officer," Thomas said.

Kevin Kramer, the Metro Councilman in District 11, said this year's fiscal budget has more overtime built in than the one before.

"We know we don't have enough officers to take care of the day to day to day activities," Kramer said. "I think our biggest struggle honestly is just not enough officers."

Thomas understands how easy it is to accrue overtime when the job calls for it. "The hours pile up on you," he said. "If you're working more than you're sleeping... it's bad."

Louisville leaders hope to fill those employee shortages. At the start of August, the city had openings for 293 police officers and 111 jail officers. There were also 50 Louisville fire vacancies and 78 EMT openings.

Overtime pay stayed under budget for fiscal year 2024. That's July 2023 through June 2024. Despite this, Mayor Craig Greenberg allocated more money for city workers in his latest budget.

"We are actually going to bring in more officers this year than we're going to lose," Kramer said.

In a written statement, Jason Logsdon, the public spokesperson for Louisville Metro Corrections, said jail officers pull a lot of overtime because of the nature of their job.

"Louisville Metro Department of Corrections has a responsibility to always ensure adequate staffing," Logsdon said in the statement. "In the last few years staffing shortages has effected many employers around the city and country including Louisville Metro Department of Corrections. We are encouraged by the new FOP contracts that were recently approved by the Mayor and Metro Council and are hopeful that with the increased pay and benefits, recruiting will be more attractive to potential employees, helping to alleviate the short staffing."

The mayor's 2024-2025 fiscal year budget allocated nearly $49 million for overtime. If overtime costs go more than 10% over that, the mayor will meet with metro council to adjust the budget.

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