Schuylkill County departments and agencies will be cutting down on overtime in 2017.
In order to cut down on expenditures next year, the county commissioners approved a new overtime policy Wednesday.
Before working overtime, an employee must have written approval from their department head, according to the new policy. Compensatory time for non-exempt employees was also capped at 40 hours within the year the time was earned under the new policy.
“I think this will be an excellent tool to keep the overtime costs down,” Martina Chwastiak, director of human resources, said.
Overtime for most county departments was not included in the 2017 budget, county Administrator Gary Bender said. However, the county prison and emergency communications center, which both operate 24/7, did include a line for overtime in the budget. Funding for approved overtime expenditures will come from the county’s contingency fund.
As of Wednesday, the county spent more than $587,560.82 in overtime expenditures in 2016. The total amount paid includes following departments: Prison, $373,271.48; Children & Youth, $107,958.75; Emergency Communications, $77,010.80; and Adult Probation, $29,319.79.
In other matters, the commissioners approved appointments to the following advisory boards: Kathy Burda, reappointed to a three-year term as a member of the office of senior services advisory board through 2019; Doris M. Kauffman, appointed to fill the unexpired term of Helen Clay as a member of the office of senior service advisory board through 2018; Virginia Filozof, Marie Beauchamp, Janet Daubert, Cathy Heim, Kim Noel, Dolores Novack and Ed Hauch, reappointed as members of the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program advisory council through 2019; Brett Stehr and John Halabura, James Hepler, Russell Schnoke and Ron Dietz, reappointed as members of the board of directors for the Schuylkill County Ag Land Preservation board through 2019; Keith Masser, reappointed as chairman of the board of directors for the Schuylkill Ag Land Preservation board through 2017; Kelly Austin, reappointed to a five-year term as a member of the board of directors for the Schuylkill County Airport Authority through 2021.