A Comping Case for Transparency

The dictionary defines comp time as time off that is granted to a worker as compensation for working overtime. Whereas DeKalb is a Home Rule community under the City Manager form of government comp time is defined as a perk bank few private sector employers could compete with.

Administrators and department heads can bank comp time hours throughout their tenure or career in DeKalb. Retiring Assistant Director of Public Works Joel Mauer has a total of 5337 hours of unused comp time valued as available cost at $304,449.

Mauer worked for the City of DeKalb for 25 years. Spreading those 5337 hours over 25 years calculates to 4.1 hours of overtime for 1300 consecutive weeks. Talk about dedication. Wonder about scheduling.

Time worked should be compensated. Some argue that executive, administrative, and professional employees are exempt under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and accrue NO overtime of any kind (comp or paid).

Exemptions (29 USC §201 et seq.; 29 CFR Parts 510 to 794)

1. Executive, administrative, and professional employees (including teachers and academic administrative personnel in elementary and secondary schools), outside sales employees, and employees in certain computer-related occupations (as defined in DOL regulations);

But that’s federal law and DeKalb is a Home Rule community. Administrators do not have a collective bargaining agreement. Allowing comp time to be rolled over and banked for so long appears to be executive privilege. Rank and file employees for the City of DeKalb have time limits for the amount of comp time they can rollover. Union firefighters are limited to two years.

Mauer accrued the equivalent of 2.3 salary years at an $118,653 annual salary. Was that his average annual salary over his 25 year career? Or was it valued at end-of-career salary?

The appointed finance advisory committee poured over documents, spreadsheets and CAFRs looking for low hanging fruit recommendations for the city council to consider in budget preparation times.

The city council borrowed $1+ million for a voluntary separation compensation package for a large percentage of the staff when annual expenditures (+6%) were outpacing annual revenue (+3%). Many retired employees who did so early were receiving free or very low cost health care coverage. That had to be taken away for the City of DeKalb to make ends almost meet.

But the right question was not specifically asked so comp time banked accounts weren’t identified or discussed. Attempts to probe into such areas by the finance advisory committee were summarily dismissed by staff who claimed such matters were for closed session meetings only.

Deals like banking comp time for 25 years and getting compensated at career end salary rate should not be made behind closed doors with public funds.

But maybe the EPI report consultants asked the right questions. Who knows? The publicly funded report was redacted in areas that such matters would have been addressed.

That’s one reason the public is well served by the watchblogger Lynn Fazekas over at CityBarbs. She asked the right questions in a Freedom of Information Act request and got a log of employees with accrued comp time.

Her Champions of Comp Time lists the eight highest comp time banked account holders. Another two dozen city employees banked $5,000 to $25,000 in comp by the time of the report.

Without the watchbloggers what goes on in closed sessions and behind the curtains would likely be placed on hold. There are six single space pages of dates of closed session meeting minutes being placed on hold (not released to the public) going as far back as September 22, 2003 in the Monday, December 9 city council agenda back up material. See pages 49-54 of the agenda.

It’s doubtful that there’s a line item in the budget for a $304,449 banked comp time payout. That begs the question — is the banked comp time deferred compensation? As in rolled over and amortized into pension payments?

Only your mayor and council members know. Ask them because pension payments for many city employees is now the city’s portion of your property tax bill.