06:03 PM EST on Thursday, November 17, 2005

Meet Captain Richard White. After 27 years on the Louisville fire department, he's ready to make his last fire run at an age most people only dream about retiring.

“Going to set me free at 48 years old, and I’ll be able to retire with the amount of dollars,” he says.

That's because out of 6,000 Metro Louisville employees, last year White was one of the top overtime earners in the city. Through an open records request, WHAS11 asked the city for its top ten overtime earners.

We found firefighters and corrections officers doubling their salaries. One man more than tripled his, just before retirement. Why is that important? State law allows for a bigger pension that way.

And our list was new to the eyes of the department leaders who track overtime.

“It surprised me that he had that many hours,” says Corrections Chief Tom Campbell.

“This did bring it to our attention,” says Fire Chief Greg Frederick.

“I took it every time,” White says. “Other people turned it down every time.”

White doubled his salary with overtime from a base of $52,000 a year, he'll take home another $50,000 in overtime for a total of $102,000.

And the year before that, he was the city's top overtime earner, making more in overtime than his base salary, taking home a total of $104,000 a year, $54,000 of that in overtime.

“Everybody had the same options that I did,” White says.

The firefighters work 24-hour shifts and until February, they also served as paramedics and EMTs on ambulances, which is how White raked in the overtime, he says at a sacrifice to his family.

Others have made even more than Captain White.

“Officer Bumphus was a machine and loved to work and volunteer for overtime work available,” Campbell says. Corrections Officer Dave Alan Bumphus, who retired September 1, had a base salary of $33,612. But last year, he earned nearly $71,000 in overtime for a take home total of $104,400 -- more than triple his base salary. He made the most in overtime among all city employees last year.

“I know he was volunteered to work a lot of hours, enough for him to work a double shift each day,” Campbell says.

At Corrections, the jail must always be fully staffed. So with shortages of officers, it means overtime is voluntary and mandatory. Superiors can order it. Officer Bumphus declined to talk with us, and the mayor, whose budget spent $27 million on overtime last year, says despite the high salaries, changes are coming.

“This is the year we're banking on, more people to fill their slots, this is the year you should see a decrease in overtime,” says Mayor Jerry Abramson.

From firefighters to corrections officers, we found city employees who've doubled even tripled their salaries by working serious overtime.

White told us he kicked in the overtime hours his final two years after talking to his wife about one thing: “When my name came up I would take it.”

The pension. State law allows for White and other public employees to get a bigger pension based on their combined earnings of base salary and overtime. The mayor says the state law was recently changed to let this happen.

“Allows overtime to be a part of a person's computation when they figure out their pension. Not only costs the state but it costs local citizens here in the community,” says Abramson.

The fire department isn't alone in the practice,

“Some people looking down the road of retirement try to pad up their last year or two on the department in order to boost their pension,” says Chief Frederick.

How does it work? There are variables, but generally, the state takes the highest three years of salary for a public employee, throughout their career, and the pension is then the average of the highest three years.

So for White, two years ago he was the city's top overtime earner. He made over $54,000 in overtime, more than his base salary of $49,000. He took home $104,000. And last year, again one of the top overtime earners, he made $102,000.

“It was a sacrifice, we both made for two years. Otherwise I would have had to stay 10 years to get the kind of pension that I’m going to get, you know,” he says.

And White told us what his pension will be, saying the overtime boosted what he'll get a month by $1,500. His final pension from the fire department will be about $6,000 a month.

“To be able to retire early and increase my pension, she says, if you can retire earlier, go for it, that's what I did.”

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--Top 10 Overtime Earners (July 1, 2004-June 30, 2005)

01 Bumphus, David/Corrections Officer/OT: $70,788.96 Base Salary: $33,612.80

02 Simmons, Kenneth/Corrections Officer/OT: $59,338.44/Base Salary: $33,612.80

03 Dobbs, Victoria/Corrections Sergeant/OT: $52,712.67/Base Salary: $40,060.80

04 Cox, Christopher/Fire Commander/OT: $51,361.17/Base Salary: $52,296.19

05 White, Richard/Fire Commander/OT: $50,244.60/Base Salary: $51,796.99

06 Purlee, Paul/Fire Commander/OT: $45,854.57/Base Salary: $51,796.99

07 Webb, Ray/Fire Apparatus Operator/OT: $45,176.76/Base Salary: $45,383.94

08 Weathers, Sr. Aaron/Fire Apparatus Operator/OT: $44,603.29/Base Salary: $45,883.14

09 St. John, Glanie/Fire Apparatus Operator/$44,320.70/Base Salary: $45,883.14

10 Coleman, Barriel/Corrections Sergeant/OT: $42,725.28/Base Salary: $40,060.80

--Top 10 Overtime Earners (July 1, 2003-June 30, 2004)

01 White, Richard/Fire Company Commander/OT: $54,628.93/Base Salary: $49,327.62

02 Kuster, Patrick/Fire Apparatus Operator/OT: $49,609.41/Base Salary: $45,387.26

03 St. John, Glanie/Fire Apparatus Operator/OT: $47,978.20/Base Salary: $43,723.26

04 Burgett, Dwayne/Fire Company Commander/OT: $44,068.30/Base Salary: $49,327.62

05 Beauford, Clarence/Police Officer/OT: $41,791.80/Base Salary: $44,907.20

06 Early, Steven/Fire Company Commander/OT: $41,778.80/Base Salary: $49,327.62

07 Cromity, Samuel/Police Officer/OT: $40,327.43/Base Salary: $44,907.20

08 Webb, Ray/Fire Apparatus Officer/OT: $40,001.78/Base Salary: $43,224.06

09 Todd, David/Fire Paramedic/OT: $39,218.40/Base Salary: $40,455.17

10 James, Frederick/Electrician/OT: $39,046.96/Base Salary: $43,534.40

Web story produced by Jay Ditzer.