The explosive allegations of sex-for-overtime rocking the NYPD have exposed not one scandal, but two. The first involves alleged sexual coercion for overtime pay. The second – perhaps even more disturbing – is how City Council leadership failed to spot glaring red flags in their own budget documents that suggested systemic overtime abuse.
Under Speaker Adrienne Adams and Finance Chair Justin Brannan, the Council’s Finance Division produced detailed reports documenting troubling overtime patterns that somehow generated zero meaningful oversight response. While fiscal year 2024’s final numbers aren’t yet available, the fiscal year 2021-2023 figures tell a story that should have had Council leadership asking tough questions long ago.
Consider the most shocking numbers that sailed past Council scrutiny: In fiscal year 2023, the Chief of Department division spent $532.1 million on uniformed overtime against just $53.5 million in uniformed base salaries – a staggering 10-to-1 ratio. Under Chief Maddrey’s leadership, overtime hadn’t just supplemented regular pay – it had completely eclipsed it by a factor of ten.
The pattern becomes even more alarming when examining the civilian side of the same division. In fiscal year 2023, civilian overtime reached $69.5 million against a mere $7.2 million in civilian base salaries – maintaining that same inexplicable 10-to-1 ratio. When both uniformed and civilian staff are earning ten times their base pay in overtime, it suggests not coincidence but systemic overtime abuse.
The growth is staggering. The Chief of Department division’s total overtime spending nearly doubled from $303.5 million in fiscal year 2021 to $601.6 million in fiscal year 2023. That represents a 98% increase in just two years under the Adams administration, with no proportional increase in base salaries to justify such dramatic growth.
Meanwhile, the Administration division’s uniformed overtime performed a vanishing act that somehow didn’t catch the Finance Committee’s attention: from $72 million in fiscal year 2022 to just $6.4 million in fiscal year 2023 – a 91% drop while base salaries remained stable. How did such dramatic shifts between divisions not trigger immediate Council hearings?
The Council’s oversight failure looks even worse in light of recent revelations. The department’s top overtime earner, Lt. Quathisha Epps, pulled in $204,000 in overtime alone during fiscal year 2024, pushing her total compensation past $400,000. Two other officers in former Chief Jeffrey Maddrey’s orbit, including his driver, also raked in six-figure overtime payments.
In her EEOC complaint, Epps alleged that Maddrey and other NYPD executives could edit overtime lists to “hide the true number of overtime abusers”. One might ask where Council oversight was while these lists were allegedly being manipulated.
Finance Chair Justin Brannan, currently campaigning to be the city’s next fiscal watchdog as Comptroller, offered a belated response only after the scandal broke, stating, ‘It shouldn’t take a scandal to get everyone’s attention.’ Yet attention-getting numbers were right there in his committee’s reports, year after year.
The investigation has now expanded, with law enforcement searching Maddrey’s home and the NYPD transferring nine investigators to the Department of Investigation. But the question remains: Where was this level of scrutiny when hundreds of millions in overtime dollars were bouncing between divisions like a fiscal shell game?
The Council’s oversight failure is particularly striking given their traditional skepticism toward NYPD spending and their significant analytical staff resources. These weren’t complex derivatives or hidden accounts – they were clear patterns in the Council’s own budget documents that should have triggered immediate investigation.
It took a scandal involving alleged sexual coercion to finally prompt Mayor Adams to order new overtime controls. But the real scandal might be how long the Council’s leadership and the Mayor let these numbers slide without question.
New Yorkers deserve answers not just about overtime abuse, but about the complete breakdown of legislative oversight. So far, they’re still waiting.
Written by Sam Antar
© 2024 Sam Antar. All rights reserved.
Article Update: Sex, Lies, and Overtime: Inside the NYPD’s Financial Black Box