News Headlines

Update: Iowa State Overtime Pay Down To $25 Million A Year

Iowa spent more than $25 million on overtime pay during the last fiscal year, but that is less than the state spent in recent years.

Posted: $util.date("h:mm a MMM d, yyyy",$story.contentLiveDate,$timeZone)
Reporter: The Associated Press

Iowa spent more than $25 million on overtime pay during the last fiscal year, but that is less than the state spent in recent years.

The Des Moines Register reports the state's overtime spending has been around $30 million for the four previous years. A nursing assistant at the University of Iowa Hospitals collected nearly $226,000 in overtime in the past four fiscal years, the most in the state, by working 8,507 extra hours.

(An earlier report from the Associated Press indicated the $226,000 figure was from the past year rather than past four years.)

Officials say the $25 million total remains a concern, but there's been improvement. Iowa Management Department Director Dave Roederer says the state adopted new practices to limit overtime and the state is trying to do a better job of predicting vacancies.

Roederer says the overtime should continue to decline because the state is becoming more efficient.