Convention overtime at $6.6m, may top $9m

The Democratic National Convention, the most expensive security event the city has ever organized, cost $6.6 million in overtime for Boston workers alone, including $5 million for police. The tab will be paid by the federal government.

In coming months, Boston's overtime bill for the convention will probably swell to about $9.75 million, city budget officials said. Overtime for employees of the city's Public Works Department has not yet been totaled, and police and firefighters will receive additional money because of pay increases in their contracts, finalized on the eve of the convention.

More than 2,223 Police Department employees -- much of the department of about 2,800 -- collected pay for extra hours, with several individuals billing more than 100 hours and receiving more than $10,000 in overtime pay over the course of a few weeks, according to convention payroll expenses obtained by the Globe.

As the department prepared for and implemented security measures for the four-day event in late July, thousands of dollars in extra pay went to everyone from officers on the street to sharpshooters and radio technicians. One officer who assisted with preparing Boston's security plan made $17,848 on top of his regular pay.

Police officials defended the overtime expenses, saying they were necessary for such a large event, the first political convention since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

By many measures, the police planning and deployment were a success: There were only six convention-related arrests, practically no violence, and the city avoided major gridlock.

''When we surveyed the public information that was out there, they were talking about serious disruptions in the city," said Superintendent Robert Dunford, who devised and oversaw the city's convention security plan. ''Some of the intelligence pointed to major disruptions that never materialized, because of our intelligence and communications and use of technology to monitor the groups. They all played a role in defusing the situations. We never gave them the opportunity to break out."

The expense records include convention overtime since the beginning of the year, but 98 percent of it was paid for hours in July, particularly the days leading up to and during the event. Forty-seven officers earned $5,000 or more for work in July alone, most of it in the week of the convention, according to the records.

The federal government is paying for the overtime as part of convention security costs, which city officials say will probably total about $35 million. When overtime for agencies including State Police and neighboring cities and towns that assisted Boston during the convention is added, overtime will account for about three-quarters of the total cost, Boston officials said.

The records show that the Boston Fire Department charged $1.5 million in overtime, and other city agencies -- including transportation, inspectional services, and parks -- charged $259,266 in overtime.

Police Commissioner Kathleen M. O'Toole said that her department's overtime was considerably lower than first budgeted.

''The original budget, for the worst case scenario, was $7.3 million," O'Toole said. ''These figures . . . are still considerably less than the amount we had allocated."

Every officer was required to work overtime, a minimum of four hours after each regular shift, during the convention week. To ensure that enough officers were available for security, O'Toole waived a Police Department rule barring officers from working more than 16 consecutive hours.

Some officers took personal days off and then worked long shifts of overtime at the higher rate of 1.5 times regular pay, said police officials and an officer who took personal days to collect overtime. Additionally, the Police Department canceled all vacations during the convention. Those employees received overtime pay for all the hours they worked during the week. According to the expense records, some officers were paid for 20 hours of overtime in one day.

Officers were assigned to convention duty near the FleetCenter or to station houses that were responsible for covering the rest of the city. Many officers assigned to the FleetCenter said they spent long stretches doing nothing.

''We stood there for hours on end waiting for protesters who, thankfully, never showed up," said James Carnell, who was notified four days before a long-scheduled two-week vacation that he would be assigned to the convention. ''I'd work all day and get home at 3 a.m., then get up and do it again. It was exhausting work."

Carnell worked 156 hours of overtime in July, including 86 hours of overtime during the week of the convention.

Officers also said they deserved the extra pay, largely because of the stress of working an event widely considered to be a potential terrorist target.

''It was actually the worst week in my career, because if was so burdensome," said an officer who worked about 100 hours of overtime during July. ''You always worried about somebody getting hurt. You never knew when something was going to go wrong. You were waiting for the other shoe to fall."

The top Police Department overtime earner, Sergeant Timothy Connolly, who helped plan the convention with Dunford, earned nearly $18,000 in convention-related overtime, during July and the months leading up to the event. He worked 224.5 overtime hours in July.

Two who helped oversee the security plan were Sergeant James Gallagher, who earned $14,185 in overtime, and Lieutenant Paul O'Connor, who received $17,848. Sergeant William Kennedy, a sharpshooter, made $8,844.

Several civilian employees of the Police Department also earned large amounts of overtime: H. David Troup, the director of telecommunications, made $11,270; James Fitzpatrick, head of information services, made $8,374; Brian Barcelou, a computer network administrator, made $7,555; and Carl Walter, director of the Office of Research and Evaluation, made $6,991.

Officers in specialized units such as the bomb squad and the harbor patrol worked especially long hours during the convention, officials said.

In the Fire Department, high-ranking officers earned the most overtime. Unlike the police, firefighters were not required to work overtime. If they volunteered, however, they were allowed to work 24 hours of overtime on their days off.

Among the Fire Department's top overtime earners was Peter Pearson, who supervised the firefighters posted outside the FleetCenter, and earned $14,868. Robert Goglia, who set up hazardous material equipment and oversaw the training of hazardous materials and decontamination specialists, earned $13,865.

Assistant fire marshal Paul T. Burke, who was in charge of crowd control, earned $14,111. Captain Dennis Keeley, who reviewed building plans and worked on crowd control, earned $11,506.