Twenty-five Denver police officers were paid more than $30,000 each in overtime last year at Denver International Airport, and City Council President Rosemary Rodriguez wants the airport to study ways to cut the costs.
Rodriguez said Thursday that she thinks the airport could save money by having retired safety workers conduct traffic control at the airport at a reduced cost. She said officers who want to continue getting the overtime should earn it tackling street crime.
“I am not suggesting that we scrimp on safety at the airport but simply manage traffic creatively,” Rodriguez said.
She said her proposal is similar to policies in other cities, such as Los Angeles, Baltimore and Nashville, Tenn.
She said her plan also would help retired police officers earn money to deal with rising health care costs.
Her comments follow a recent debate over whether the city has enough police to deal with the city’s crime. The City Council recently clashed with Mayor John Hickenlooper over the proper staffing level of the police force.
The council voted to hire 19 more officers than the mayor proposed, using $612,000 of the city’s emergency reserves to pay for the extra officers. Council members said the extra officers were needed to help the city deal with a decline in arrests.
Rodriguez voted for the additional officers.
She said she didn’t propose her airport plan during the recent budget debate because she didn’t have enough information about the experience of other cities that have put the plan to use.
More than $2.2 million in overtime was paid to officers working at the airport through September of this year. In 2004, the overtime tab for police work at the airport totaled more than $2.8 million.
Last year, 25 officers were paid more than $30,000 in overtime for work at the airport. Three of them got more than $40,000, and the top police airport overtime-earner received $44,279.
Rodriguez said Baltimore spends about $25,000 to $29,000 a year, including benefits, for a new traffic enforcement officer at its airport. She said it costs that city between $2,000 and $4,000 to train and equip those officers.
Vicki Braunagel, co-manager of the airport, said the airport has compared the cost to hire more full-time police officers to handle work currently done by paying overtime. She said those studies show it’s more cost-effective to continue to handle the workload by paying overtime.
She said one reason is that federal regulations require sudden infusions to the airport’s security workforce if a threat is perceived.
Braunagel said the airport has not considered hiring employees to do the work at a reduced cost but will study the issue now that Rodriguez has made the suggestion.
The city’s safety budget, which includes police, fire and sheriff’s departments, averaged $10.2 million in overtime a year between 2000 and 2004.
Staff writer Christopher N. Osher can be reached at 303-820-1747 or cosher@denverpost.com.
