Police and fire overtime continue to surge in Chicago – Chicago Sun-Times

Mayor Lori Lightfoot said she was “angry and frustrated” and planned to hold then Police Supt. Eddie Johnson accountable for reining in an abuse that beleaguered taxpayers “can’t afford.” The message apparently fell on deaf ears.

Chicago taxpayers spent nearly $210 million on police and fire overtime last year — and another $33.7 million on lump-sum payments to departing employees, most of them police officers, records show.

One retiring officer walked out the door with $276,053 for stockpiled compensatory time and another $9,236 for unused vacation days. Records released to the Chicago Sun-Times in response to a Freedom of Information Act request show scores of other six-figure checks and hundreds of payments that topped $20,000.

In private industry, employees are routinely required to use comp time within a defined period of time. They are not allowed to accumulate a career’s worth of comp time and cash it out when they leave.