Item 5.1.
Receive and File the
Fiscal Year 2025-26
Overtime Usage Report
September 22, 2026
2 Presentation Overview
üReasons of overtime usage
üReview departmental overtime
hours and notes
üSummary/Next Step
3 This Report is a Good 40-hour
Project
Hours Task
5 hrs Define problem and research strategies
10 hrs Data Gathering – Staff extract data. Clean up and structure data
15 hrs Data Analysis – Validate the information, look for trends, meet with departments, understand specific
issues
10 hrs Interpret and report results. Presentation.
40 hrs TOTAL
Staff value the process and results
Follow-up and repeating this report requires staffing resources
4 Reason for Overtime Use
1. MINIMUM STAFFING STANDARDS. Union City builds overtime directly into staffing models for police to ensure 24/7 coverage, rapid emergency response, and safety for everyone involved.
Emergencies, natural disasters/weather events, and major incidents routinely require extended shifts. Many parks and recreation programs, such as Union City’s Preschool at Holly Center, require a minimum staff-to-child ratio. Agreement with bargaining units may include staffing rules that mandate certain positions be filled regardless of absences. Service standards such as street sweeping every Friday are related to minimum staffing.
5 Reason for Overtime Use
2. Vacancies and staffing shortages.
Staffing turnover, the
lengthy process and
training of new staff
can result in existing
staff having to cover
required shifts and
work tasks.
6 Reason for Overtime Use
3. After hours emergencies and infrastructure needs. The Public Works Department can incur overtime responding to park and facility breaks, storm impacts,
traffic signal outages, and
other urgent infrastructure
issues that occur
outside normal hours.
7 Reason for Overtime Use
4. Events occur outside normal business hours. Special events and city activities include recreational programs held on evenings and weekends, such as fun runs, egg hunts, and movie nights. They also include festivals or festival support, council meetings, and community meetings—such as the Climate Action Plan workshops, Parks and Recreation Master Plan discussions, and the BART Mural Project meetings—as well as community events like the District Dialogue sessions. These events require staffing beyond regular hours, including police for crowd control, public works for setup and cleanup, and recreation staff for event support. In addition, IT upgrades and facility repairs can only be completed after public hours, when employees and the public are not present. For Police scheduled for night shift, attending day-time POST training is OT.
8 Reason for Overtime Use
5. Time sensitive or legally required work. Some tasks must be completed by statutory deadlines (budget development, financial reporting, elections, and payroll). Staff may need overtime to meet these requirements.
9 Other Notes
Overtime Could be Cost Effective – A management tool, such as hiring additional staff, adding City part-time staffing, using contract services, or deferring services.
Eliminating Overtime Would be Expensive – Assuming
community wants to maintain the same service level, hiring additional staff, ready to serve, would cost more.
Some Overtime is Cost Recoverable – Some emergency
response and special events are recovered through fees and grants.
Overtime Burnout is Real – Most employees don’t prioritize extra work for extra pay.
10 3 Sources of Data
Tyler Munis Payroll Module – Provides Overtime and Comp Time Hours worked per two-week pay period. Looking for cycles or trends.
Police Plan-It and Tyler Time & Attendance Timecard systems – Provides comments on overtime entries. Pleased that all employees include complete, proper OT comments.
Tyler Munis Financial System – Converts hours worked to expenditures. Used to measure fiscal impact.
(system reports provide similar totals, but not exact match – different date range, categorization)
11 Historical Overtime Expenses
Why did overtime expenses increase for FY25 and FY26?
Overtime Expenses
By Department
FY23
Actual
FY24
Actual
FY25
Unaudited
FY26
Adopted
FY26
Unaudited
FY27
Adopted
11-City Council 4,874 6,238 4,709 3,872 7,800 3,872
12-City Manager's Office 5,919 9,321 14,872 4,000 13,350 4,000 15-Finance 47,926 80,358 118,681 47,450 95,810 47,450
16-Human Resources 0 0 1,900 0 6,100 0
17-Info Tech 2,696 15,388 11,401 11,000 10,780 11,000
21-Police 1,606,551 1,750,506 2,035,893 1,556,185 2,269,970 1,535,203 30-Public Works 193,416 228,864 253,417 132,200 308,380 137,200 40-Econ & Comm Dev 8,673 7,891 2,393 10,500 27,180 10,500 50-Comm & Rec Svcs 32,456 45,640 49,924 24,209 121,390 33,105 ALL DEPARTMENTS $1,902,510 $2,144,206 $2,493,190 $1,789,416 $2,861,500 $1,782,330
12 Police Time Tracking Review
PD OVERTIME HOURS
By time tracking codes
FY24
7/1/23 to
6/30/24
FY25
7/1/24 to
6/30/25
FY26
7/1/25 to
6/30/26
SERV MIN - Service Minimums 3,487.03 4,063.69 6,138.68
SHIFT ACT - Shift Activity 2,975.12 4,068.68 3,711.53
SPC - Special Assignment 3,453.41 2,773.32 3,620.03
TRN - Training 2,890.57 3,265.90 3,561.25
SAFE MIN - Safety Minimums 1,268.52 1,761.79 2,075.48
All Other (29) Codes 6,521.78 6,429.77 6,677.10
TOTAL HOURS 20,596.43 22,363.15 25,784.07
Percent Increase 8.6% 15.3%
13 Biggest Change to PD Overtime
Hours
FY 2023-24 to FY 2025-26
(two-year change) Direction FY 23-24 FY 25-26
Hours
Change
Percent
Change
SERV MIN - Service Minimums Increase 3,487.03 5,122.45 1,635.42 46.9% SAFE MIN - Safety Minimums Increase 1,268.52 1,859.08 590.56 46.6% COPPS - COPPS Event Increase 410.60 715.32 304.72 74.2% TRN - Training Increase 2,890.57 3,174.55 283.98 9.8%
CRT CRIM - Court (Criminal) Increase 302.67 474.67 172.00 56.8% Major Incident / Investigation Decrease 756.58 94.75 -661.83 -87.5% SPC - Special Assignment Decrease 3,453.41 2,975.78 -477.63 -13.8% INV CO - Investigations Call Out Decrease 860.10 407.76 -452.34 -52.6% OTS GRANT - Traffic Decrease 929.17 663.25 -265.92 -28.6% 4th of July SEU Enforcement Decrease 255.75 33.00 -222.75 -87.1%
14 OT – City Manager's Office
Rank Comment Category
# of OT
Lines
Total OT
Hours
% of Dept
OT
1 District Dialogue Events 5 12.00 38.7%
2 CERT Board Meetings - Union City 3 7.00 22.6%
3 CERT Board Meetings - Newark 2 4.00 12.9%
4 Newark PPRR Training 2 3.00 9.7%
5 CERT Monthly Training 1 2.00 6.5%
6 Community Training (USGS) 1 2.00 6.5%
7 Emergency Exercise Planning Meetings 1 1.00 3.2%
CMO Total 15 31.00
15 OT – Comm & Recreation Svcs
Rank Comment Category
# of OT
Lines
Total OT
Hours
% of Dept
OT
1 Community Festivals & Cultural Events 23 167.00 11.7% 2 Preschool - Staff Coverage & Closing 86 118.00 8.2%
3 Opioid & Narcan Outreach Events 18 114.00 8.0%
4 City Council Meetings 28 79.50 5.5%
5 Seasonal & Family Events 13 61.50 4.3%
6 Holiday & Weekend Shifts Worked 11 61.25 4.3%
7 Center & Site Coverage 32 55.25 3.9%
8 District Dialogue Events 14 51.50 3.6%
9 Facility Rentals & Reception Issues 18 48.00 3.3%
10 Preschool - Operations, Meetings & Parents 24 45.75 3.2% All Other Categories (27 categories) 222 631.50 44.1%
CRS Total 489 1,433.25
16 OT – Economic & Comm
Development
Rank Comment Category
# of OT
Lines
Total OT
Hours
% of Dept
OT
1 Planning Commission Hearings & Meetings 17 37.75 15.2% 2 Raising Cane's - CEQA & Tribal Consultation 11 33.50 13.5% 3 Development Project Reviews & Staff Reports 7 17.75 7.2% 4 District Dialogues 5 15.75 6.4%
5 CAP 2.0 - Policy, Budget & GHG Work 6 15.50 6.3%
6 Seven Hills Estates 5 15.50 6.3%
7 City Council Meetings & Appeals 9 13.75 5.5%
8 Station East Phase 2 4 13.00 5.2%
9 CivicSpark Fellow Recruitment & Contract 3 11.50 4.6% 10 Raising Cane's - Entitlements & Agreements 4 11.00 4.4% All Other Categories (11 categories) 31 63.00 25.4%
ECD Total 102 248.00
17 OT – Finance
Rank Comment Category
# of OT
Lines
Total OT
Hours
% of Dept
OT
1 Bank Reconciliation 43 125.00 12.6%
2 HR Paperwork & PAF Processing 28 103.50 10.5%
3 Payroll Processing & Review 41 100.50 10.1%
4 Timesheet, Timecard & T&A Review 16 78.25 7.9%
5 Year-End Recons (Investments, POB/BNYM, Fund 112) 13 66.00 6.7% 6 CIP Projects 19 57.75 5.8%
7 CalPERS Reporting & Reconciliation 14 56.50 5.7%
8 Year-End Close & Journal Entries 20 47.00 4.7%
9 Salary Tables, COLAs & Leave Accruals 11 41.50 4.2%
10 Grants, CDBG & Grant Billing 11 39.00 3.9%
All Other Categories (19 categories) 114 275.25 27.8%
FIN Total 330 990.25
18 OT – Human Resources
Rank Comment Category
# of OT
Lines
Total OT
Hours
% of Dept
OT
1 Payroll Corrections & Tyler Support 8 18.50 29.1%
2 Disability + Mission Square Combined Reporting 7 14.50 22.8% 3 Disability Spreadsheet Updates 6 14.00 22.0%
4 Mission Square (MSQ) Reporting 2 5.00 7.9%
5 Audits & Surveys 3 4.00 6.3%
6 STD/LTD & ALT Rate Updates 1 4.00 6.3%
7 Benefit Enrollment & Benefit Fair 2 3.00 4.7%
8 Recruitment & General Admin 1 0.50 0.8%
HRS Total 30 63.50
19 OT – Information Technology
Rank Comment Category
# of OT
Lines
Total OT
Hours
% of Dept
OT
1 City Council Meeting Support 12 35.00 31.0%
2 Planning Commission Support 4 16.00 14.2%
3 BART Mural Project Forums & Meetings 4 9.00 8.0%
4 District Meeting Support 2 8.00 7.1%
5 UCPD Employee Night 1 8.00 7.1%
6 CRS Master Plan Meeting Support 2 6.00 5.3%
7 National Night Out Support 2 6.00 5.3%
8 Special & Joint Council Meeting Support 2 6.00 5.3%
9 General Support Coverage 1 6.00 5.3%
10 Mayor's Conference & Town Hall Support 2 5.00 4.4%
All Other Categories (2 categories) 3 8.00 7.1%
ITS Total 35 113.00
20 OT – Public Works
Rank Comment Category
# of OT
Lines
Total OT
Hours
% of Dept
OT
1 Work Furlough - Coverage 75 602.00 15.0%
2 Bus Shelter Cleaning 53 423.00 10.5%
3 Street Sweeping - Islands & Medians 47 376.00 9.4%
4 Work Furlough / SWAP Crew Program 40 310.00 7.7%
5 Weed Abatement & Landscape - UCB 35 279.00 6.9%
6 Weed Abatement & Landscape - Mission Blvd 19 149.00 3.7% 7 Ball Field & Park Grounds Maintenance 18 148.00 3.7%
8 Weed Abatement & Landscape - Alvarado-Niles 17 136.00 3.4% 9 Storm Drain & Catch Basin Inventory 35 135.00 3.4%
10 Street Sweeping - Mission Blvd 88 132.00 3.3%
All Other Categories (37 categories) 327 1,324.95 33.0% PWD Total 754 4,014.95
21 Noticeable Areas of Increases
• Homelessness – The number of incidences
where Union City staff must work with homeless
issues has increased, and the resources used is
greater than typical.
• Illegal Dumping – The number of incidences
are significantly higher than years past, and City
staff must promptly deal with them.
• Technology Upgrade – Finance and Police
software systems require working extra hours,
often after hours.
• Staffing Coverage – Staff out on long-term
leave and vacancy leads to existing staff
covering the extra work.
22 Summary and Next Step
• Overtime is an appropriate expense – Required for minimum standards. It is cost effective in certain scenarios.
• Change is inevitable and costs the City – New tasks and projects takes away existing resources. New tasks and projects takes extra time to provide than ongoing programs.
• Continual management of staff resources is necessary – Seek prior approval. Frequent management review. Evaluate cost effectiveness of alternatives.
• Use new finance system to provide analysis – Finance will improve financial and resource usage reports to assist department management of overtime.