Calgary Transit doled out $9.3 million in overtime payments in 2011 to operators and other staff, exceeding its overtime budget by 71 per cent, according to a recently released report by the city auditor’s office.

In 2011, three transit operators each racked up $30,000 in overtime, while another 21 earned $20,000. The average overtime paid to LRT and bus drivers was $3,596.

The audit office, which focused primarily on three transit divisions (operators, fleet and facilities), said worker shortages caused mostly by sick days and accident-related absenteeism were “a significant cause for overtime.”

But the report also suggests Calgary Transit’s method of overtime budgeting fails to properly monitor and manage overtime expenses.

Calgary Transit spokesman Ron Collins said the department welcomes the external audit and is interested in exploring ways to improve its performance in the area of overtime management and staffing needs predictability.

However, he said 2011 was “a very unique” year for Calgary Transit, due in part to council decision in late 2010 to boost transit service by 140,000 hours. The year also had a significant amount of LRT construction, which led to a need for replacement bus service.

“The key thing to us is we have to provide service to customers, almost no matter what happens. . . . So if it involves some overtime, that’s what we do,” Collins said.

In 2010, Calgary Transit exceeded its overtime budget by 29 per cent — a number that ultimately triggered this recent audit, said Ward 4 Ald. Gael MacLeod.

“I think the transit department has taken this under advisement and they are making some changes to plan differently to minimize the amount of overtime,” said MacLeod, who chairs council’s audit committee.

Nonetheless, aldermen will be asking a lot of questions when the report goes before a council committee this Thursday, she noted.

In particular, sickness and accident-related absenteeism for transit operators, which averaged 15.3 days per person, will be closely examined.

The number is approximately double the city average of 8.2 days.

“There are two questions: why are the absences higher than the standard? And if that is the norm at transit, for whatever reason, why are we not managing this differently?” MacLeod said.

The head of the transit union brushed off the audit report’s assertion that absenteeism within transit was almost double that of the average city worker.

“I think the auditor probably got it wrong in that particular case,” said Doug Johannes, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 583. “It’s a different type of work than a sanitary office job, that’s for certain. So one would have to anticipate more absenteeism in those respects. . . . These buses roll whether somebody gets sick or someone sleeps in or whatever else. There has to be someone to drive that bus.”

The report also pointed to other problems with Calgary Transit’s overtime budgeting process including misplaced or lost documentation, insufficient and incomplete work orders and duplicated worked hours coded as overtime.