#Overtime costs surge at NYC health department, elections board

Overtime costs skyrocketed at the city Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and Board of Elections last year, new data show.

At the health department — whose budget includes the office of chief medical examiner — overtime shot up 116 percent in fiscal year 2021 that ended June 30 — the most of any major city agency, according to an analysis by the Empire Center for Public Policy.

Meanwhile, OT costs surged by 85 percent at the embattled Board of Elections, which came under fire for a botched vote count in the Democratic primary for mayor.

Last week, the Post reported an 86 percent increase in overtime costs at the Sanitation Department, with the number of workers piling up more than $100,000 in OT jumping from two to 94 in one year.

The number of employees in the Health Department agencies who cleared more than $100,000 in OT jumped from 7 to 21.

“You want to look at those overtime numbers but it has been a special time,” Andrew Rein, president of the Citizens Budget Commission watchdog group, referring to the OT costs incurred by the health agency during the extraordinary coronavirus pandemic.

Stationary engineers for the medical examiner’s office — the folks who handle boilers, heating and ventilation — significantly improved their financial outlook.

The overtime king was engineer Michael Mcgroarty, whose total pay was $411,222, thanks to a $238,829 haul in OT on top of his base pay of $132,288 and 40,105 in “other pay.” That means he would have worked roughly 2,665 additional hours to qualify for that amount of OT.

By comparison, Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi’s salary is $243,171.

Another engineer, Patrick Hallahan, also topped more than $400,000 in total pay thanks to $218,628 in OT and $56,616 in other pay.

The Health Department and Medical Examiner’s office defended the OT explosion as necessary during an unprecedented year when the coronavirus pandemic ravaged the city’s population.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has brought unprecedented challenges for our City and Health Department staff have worked around the clock the last two years to keep our city safe and healthy,” said Health Department spokesman Michael Lanza.

Operating engineers employed by Medical Examiners racked up OT to operate four make-shift. portable, 24/7 morgues set up to handle an “unprecedented” increase in deaths from COVID, said spokeswoman Julie Bolcer.

She said the Chief Medical Examiners’ Office was able to get reimbursed for the costs of operating the morgues from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

“Each of the disaster portable morgues operated 24/7 and required on-site support from our existing stationary engineer workforce to ensure continuity of operations,” Bolcer said.

“Engineer duties included maintaining emergency on-site generators, water supply, and HVAC systems, in addition to their usual work to operate and maintain all the agency’s other facilities and specialized medical and scientific buildings, including forensic pathology centers with autopsy suites, advanced laboratories, and agency administrative offices.”

The Empire Center analysis showed the same employees who perennially rack up OT at the Board of Elections earned even more last year.

Systems analyst Antonio Ortiz, Jr., tallied $217,916 in OT to raise his total pay to $337,565, after making $164,000 in OT the prior year. When considering his base salary of $117,003, he would have recorded working about 2,700 additional hours last year in order to make that much OT.

The third highest OT earner at the BOE was administrative associate Alvin Samuels, an ex-con who spent six years in prison for an armed robbery of a store clerk who was killed in the stick-up.

Samuels grabbed $158,585 in OT to raise his total pay to $268,449. That’s $51,000 more than the $107,000 in OT he made the previous year.

The Citizen Budget Commission’s Rein said the high overtime costs in the election agency raises flags.

“When you see overtime numbers that high, it certainly raises a question,” Rein said.

“The question going forward is, should there be an adjustment in staffing?”

But Rein also noted that the elections agency has taken on more responsibility, such as staffing nine days of early voting at polling places and implementing ranked-choice voting in primary elections for the first time.

The BOE defended the reliance on overtime as necessary during the pandemic as the agency took on more duties.

“Our Board of Elections staff are essential workers who deserve praise for working tirelessly throughout the entire pandemic to conduct the Elections within the City of New York,” said BOE spokeswoman Valerie Diaz.

“2021 brought us four special elections, each with nine days of early voting, a mayoral primary and general election. We thank our staff for their commitment to the voters of the City of New York.”

The top OT earners could not be reached or declined comment.