CITY OT RISES TO MORE THAN $900,000

The city of La Crosse paid about $910,000 in overtime in 2005, with
nine employees receiving more than $10,000 each and the top earner
collecting almost $25,000, according to figures provided by the city.

For the fourth year in a row, La Crosse police Detective Marion
Byerson garnered the most overtime pay at $24,577, increasing his
gross pay to $85,961 for 2005, about $5,000 less than Chief Ed Kondracki.

Since 2000, Byerson has earned a total of $118,313 in overtime.

The city paid $909,779 in overtime in 2005, compared with
approximately $831,000 in 2004.

Eight of the nine who logged more than $10,000 in overtime work in
the police department.

The police department leads overtime spending because it has been
successful in securing grants for overtime for such activities as
alcohol and drug enforcement, Kondracki said.

Last year, the department's drug arrests were up 15 percent and
liquor law arrests up 36 percent, he said. The drug arrests have been
major, "not high school and college students with marijuana in their
socks," Kondracki added.

Paying overtime is more cost-effective than hiring additional
officers that would require training and benefits, he said. "On a
day-to-day basis, the police department is staffed to meet our calls
for service, but when it comes to beefing up patrols, that's when
overtime money is required," he said.

John T. Gallagher, accounting technician in the city Finance
Department, made the second-highest amount of overtime at $18,059.
His pay for 2005 was $60,282.

Gallagher has ranked in the top three overtime recipients since 2000,
earning a total of $103,476 in overtime.

"Nothing has changed," said Finance Director Gene Pfaff. "We are
short an employee ... We were paying the county $100,000 a year (to
do the work). Now we do the work in-house, but the same chunk of work
needs to be accomplished."