Concerns Raised About 911 Centre’s Overtime Budget

The Saint John Board of Police Commissioners is raising concerns about overtime at the city’s 911 centre.

Unaudited financial results presented to the board this week show overtime for the Public Safety Communication Centre (PSCC) is 247 per cent over budget as of March 31.

Just under $30,000 was budgeted for overtime during the first three months of the year, but the actual amount spent is around $104,000.

The latest budget forecast shows overtime reaching $360,000 by the end of the year — three times higher than the budgeted amount of $120,000.

Commissioner Douglas Jones challenged the force and its chief to try and bring those numbers down.

“That’s a pretty significant gap on a $1.3-million budget,” Jones said. “We’ve gotta reverse that trend. That’s a big chunk of money.”

According to a staff report presented to the board, staffing vacancies continue to be a contributing factor toward overtime within the centre.

Craig Lavigne, senior finance manager for the force, said steps are being taken to help address the vacancies.

“We currently have two operators that are in training,” said Lavigne. “If these people are successful and work out, hopefully, we’ll see a reduction in that overtime.”

Jim Hennessy, the spokesperson for the force, said Wednesday that the centre currently has 19 full-time staff and five vacancies.

Acting Chief Tony Hayes acknowledged there is some turnover within the PSCC.

Hayes said there are two levels of staffing: one that meets their “basic requirements” and one slightly below that where working conditions are a “little tighter.”

“That’s where I believe we are now, which I believe is five operators per shift,” said Hayes.

Hayes said the impacts from last year’s cyberattack against the city’s IT system is also partly to blame for the overtime figures.

Some of the “major systems” were compromised in the attack, he said, and the built-in redundancy system kicked in to keep going.

Hayes said that required extra staffing until the centre could return to normal operations.