By VICKI URBANIK

If county government employees expect to get paid overtime, they can no longer do their work from home, under a new policy imposed Tuesday by the Porter County Council.

Council member Rita Stevenson, D-2nd, proposed the policy as a way to reign in mounting overtime expenses and prevent possible abuse of overtime claims. “There needs to be accountability in county government,” she said.

In February, the council and the county commissioners agreed to eliminate compensatory time, the practice of giving employees paid time off for working more than the standard 35-hour work week. The council directed departments to budget for overtime instead.

Stevenson said some departments allow their employees to take work home with them and to turn in overtime hours as a result. But unless the employees are physically working in county buildings, there’s no way to know for sure if the overtime claimed was actually worked, she said.

“We need better control on this overtime,” she said. “We need proof you physically worked it.”

Stevenson said an exception should be made for some departments that by necessity do their work outside of the county offices, such as animal control officers.

She also said she thinks the time may be near for county offices to have time clocks. Currently, only a few offices have time clocks with time stamps.

Council member Karen Conover, R-3rd, said she was surprised to hear that county employees are taking work home with them and then claiming overtime. Stevenson said the practice appears to have occurred in a few offices, though she declined to name them.

Council member Jim Burge, R-at large, said he was torn by the idea of not allowing people to work at home. He said he understands the concern about possible abuse. But at the same time, he said working from home can improve efficiencies and that it is a common practice in the private sector. But he also acknowledged that private businesses that allow people to work from home have control mechanisms in place to guard against abuses, while county government doesn’t.

The policy against working from home passed unanimously, with Stevenson, Conover, Burge, William Carmichael, R-at large, Robert Poparad, D-1st, and Michael Bucko, D-4th, voting yes. Council member Dan Whitten, D-at large was absent.

Council attorney Dave Hollenbeck noted that the county council is responsible for funding the overtime policy, but that it’s up to the Porter County Commissioners to oversee the policy through the employee handbook. He said the commissioners will need to amend their handbook accordingly.

In February, when the commissioners eliminated comp time, the council directed departments to put in budget requests for overtime. Since then, several departments have done so. And Tuesday was no exception, when the Sheriff’s Department appeared before the council for budget transfers for $50,000 in overtime for police and $35,000 for overtime for jail staff.

Sheriff Chief Deputy Doug Snider said the requests should cover overtime expenses for the remainder of the year. He and others also pointed out that the county council last year cut the sheriff department’s 2008 police budget for overtime in half, from $100,000.

Snider said the department will probably use up its approved overtime funds in June or so.

A motion by Bucko to approve the budget transfer failed to get a second. A motion by Burge to deny the request then passed 5-1, with only Bucko voting no.

The sheriff’s department was also seeking an additional appropriation to make up for the transferred overtime, but the state will not finalize any such appropriations until after finalizing the 2008 budget.

And while no one knows how long that will take, County Auditor Jim Kopp said some estimates are that the state won’t finalize Porter County’s 2008 budgets until September or October.

Poparad raised a concern that the sheriff might not have enough to cover salaries in a few months, if the overtime transfer is approved out of the salary account.

He also noted that the sheriff’s department has additional overtime funds through grant reimbursements, which the council approved separately.

Burge said no one knows when the state will approve the 2008 budgets and because of the uncertainty, the funds shouldn’t be transferred at this time.

The sheriff’s department had more luck with overtime for the jail. A motion by Bucko to approve the full $35,000 failed on a 3-3 vote, with Conover, Carmichael, and Burge voting no and Poparad, Stevenson, and Bucko voting yes.

Then a compromise motion for $15,000 in jail overtime, with the funds transferred from salaries, was approved unanimously.

Posted 4/23/2008