[scotty c]

Unneccesary overtime for City employees doesn't start until much closer to fiscal year end once the managers know how close they are to their budgets. They don't want to break the bank too early. If they are going to be below budget though watch out because the OT tap will be running full bore whether there is work or not. I've had buddies that worked for the city that were told to park their truck somewhere that it wouldn't be noticed for the day and come back at 5.

One of the worst things about budgets in the City is you aren't rewarded/asked why a budget wasn't met. If you didn't need it this year then you obviously don't need it next year so we'll take it away. The system creates zero incentive for savings. If it was set up properly where discussions were held and you could determine that it wasn't snowy this year so you were able to save X million on snow removal then you'd get a pat on the back. The next year we had 4 major snow events so the budget was blown, no problem here's some extra cash from this other group, etc etc.

That would require planning and communication though, no truly large business has time for that sort of nonsense.