VIDEO: Last year, the city of San Diego spent more than $70 million dollars in overtime pay for fire and police department employees. Documents obtained by NBC 7 Investigates reveal that some public safety employees made more than twice their salary in overtime pay alone.
One San Diego Fire Captain earned $218,000 dollars in overtime pay in 2018. A San Diego Police Officer earned $127,000 in added pay, while a dispatcher with a salary of $47,000 made and an additional $59,000 in overtime.
An analysis of city pay records confirmed that dozens of police and hundreds of fire department employees made more than $100,000 each in overtime.
"[Overtime] is helpful in the short term, a crisis or an emergency,” said Haney Hong with the San Diego County Taxpayer’s Association, responding to NBC 7’s findings. “But it’s not helpful [to taxpayers] long-term."