If I was closing a sidewalk, or blocking the street for some purpose (like construction) I would have to pay for the police presence in 4 hour increments, Why does the taxpayer have to bear this? Shouldn't this come out of the campaign funds? After all it's not due to their positions on the public tab.

Police overtime mushrooms as Jersey City mayoral election draws near

By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal
May 05, 2013 at 10:22 PM

In a four-month period leading up to Jersey City's May 14 municipal election, city officials spent 15 percent more in police overtime than they did in the same time period last year, shelling out $350,928 more to police employees, city payroll records show.

The records show that 532 Police Department workers received more in overtime between December 2012 and March 2013 than they did in the same months one year prior, compared to 300 employees who made the same amount of overtime or less. Of the officers who received more in overtime, 21 are Healy donors.

The extra amounts, given mostly to officers and sergeants, range from $1.08 more for Officer Candice Maschucci, who boosted her overtime to $959.66 in the later four-month time period, to $15,898 extra for Sgt. Joseph Olszewiski, who earned $18,847 in overtime in that four months, the records show.

The Jersey Journal last month filed a request for a list of all Police Department employees, their base salaries and the overtime they received from December 2011 through March 2012 and from December 2012 through March 2013.

In total, Jersey City spent $2,680,894 in police overtime in the most recent four -month span, compared to $2,329,966 in the equivalent four months one year prior.

Mayor Jerramiah Healy is in the middle of a heated re-election campaign, fending off an aggressive challenge from City Councilman Steve Fulop.

On the campaign trail, Healy argues that crime is on the decrease in Jersey City, pointing to FBI figures that show the city in 2012 had the lowest homicide rate on record. But Fulop, as well as mayoral hopefuls Abdul Malik and Jerry Walker, have argued that the city is not safer under Healy's leadership.

City crime stats show no significant increase or decrease in the total number of crimes between December 2011 and March 2012 compared to the same four-month period one year later. But there were 31 fewer aggravated assaults, 73 fewer robberies and 245 fewer thefts in the most-recent four-month stretch, while there were about 50 additional burglaries, the stats show.

Healy this week said he's not in charge of the Police Department and does not "micromanage" it. He suggested the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy may have led to a boost in overtime payments in the months after the Oct 29. storm.

Assistant Business Administrator Robert J. Kakoleski, who is the city's acting police director, said there are numerous reasons police overtime increased over last year. Some officers have seen salary increases, while others have been appearing more frequently as witnesses in Hudson County Superior Court, for which each officer is paid a minimum of four hours, Kakoleski said.

The city has been awarded grant money that will reimburse the city for some of the overtime payments, and there will be "no impact on the taxpayer," he added.

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