Why not hire additional workers?
It is more economical to pay workers overtime in many cases than it is to hire additional workers. The cost of training, benefits and salary for a new employee is much higher than paying occasional overtime to existing employees. In addition, in the case of many of our employees that work shifts (Fire Department, Police Department), in order to provide 24-hour service to citizens, it would take more than one new person to cover all of the shifts needed. It has been estimated that the Fire Department would actually need to hire 3 additional firefighters; while an addition to the Police Department would require hiring 5 more police officers.
