SACRAMENTO, CA – In a May 20, 2025 article, The Sacramento Bee reported that 15 Sacramento police officers—nearly half of the 32 department employees analyzed—doubled their annual salaries through overtime pay over the course of 2021, 2022, and 2023. The revelation has sparked concern as the city grapples with a growing budget deficit.
According to The Sacramento Bee, these officers and sergeants earned “at least 190% annually of what they would have made before overtime.”
The City Council is currently “weighing how to navigate a $44 million deficit” as it works to finalize the 2025–2026 budget, the outlet reports. Citing that financial strain, Councilmember Mai Vang has called for “an audit of police overtime spending,” noting that the department’s overtime costs exceed $15 million annually.
An analysis conducted by The Sacramento Bee found that in 2023 alone, 22 officers and sergeants collectively earned $2.7 million in overtime. In total, the 32 officers reviewed pulled in up to $6.2 million in overtime pay. Meanwhile, many other Sacramento police employees earned little or no overtime during the same period.
Sergeant Daniel Wiseman, a spokesperson for the Sacramento Police Department, told The Bee that a significant portion of overtime is used to cover unfilled shifts due to ongoing staffing shortages. “Generally, I can say that like a lot of different departments, we’re facing staffing challenges,” he said. “There’s no superfluous overtime.” Wiseman also noted that many 911 calls require at least two officers to respond, necessitating additional coverage through overtime shifts.
While Wiseman said there is no formal limit on the number of overtime hours officers may work, he did not offer further clarification. All top overtime earners between 2021 and 2023 were full-time employees of the Police or Fire Departments, with no other city employees surpassing 90% of their base pay in overtime during that span.
The Sacramento Bee reviewed raw overtime data submitted by the city to the State Controller’s Office under the Public Records Act. The paper focused its investigation on full-time employees whose overtime compensation equaled at least 90% of their base salaries.
Among those examined, Officer Joe Tavarez Brown earned more in overtime than any other city employee in a single year. In 2022, he received $199,773 in overtime pay—about 167% of his base salary of $119,631—bringing his total compensation to nearly triple his regular earnings. In 2023, he earned $108,548 in overtime, in addition to a base salary of $118,370. In 2021, his overtime amounted to about 64% of his regular pay. Brown reportedly worked all three years on the 5th District day shift, which covers the Meadowview, Parkway, and Valley Hi/North Laguna neighborhoods.
Wiseman emphasized that significant overtime is often tied to serious incidents, such as crisis negotiations, fatal traffic collisions, or homicide investigations. “If we have to call a SWAT team out in the middle of the night, that would be overtime,” he told The Bee.
Three members of the SWAT team—officers Tyler W. Curtis and Steven F. Pitts, and sergeant Michael Alan James Mantsch—doubled their base salaries with overtime earnings for three consecutive years. Another top earner, referred to as Officer 18 and kept anonymous due to their undercover status, received even more overtime relative to their base pay. According to The Bee, undercover officers sometimes made up to 35% of their base salaries through overtime.
Sergeant Jason Kirtland, known for patrolling Old Sacramento on horseback, earned $153,682 in overtime in 2023, surpassing his base salary of $132,417. He had similar earnings in prior years, taking in $166,196 in 2021 and $159,887 in 2022, according to The Bee.
Another officer, Thomas Pangelian, also drew scrutiny. Under contract with Sacramento Regional Transit, he received $158,663 in overtime in 2023—143% of his base salary of $110,812. Notably, his daughter, who patrols the north Sacramento area, earned nearly double her base salary in both 2021 and 2022.
The Sacramento Bee noted that not all overtime payments come directly from city funds. In some cases, private third-party entities—such as the Sacramento Kings or Arden Fair Mall—contract with the Police Department for security services. These arrangements fall under “supplemental overtime,” which is compensated by the external organizations rather than the city.
Sergeant Wiseman emphasized that officers picking up these shifts were not simply chasing paychecks. “They’re showing up on their days off not just to earn a paycheck, but to ensure the city is staffed and the community’s needs are met,” he said.
As of 2024, department records showed that officers logged 44,807.2 hours of supplemental employment, for which the city billed $3.77 million. Those hours, The Bee reported, generated $3.92 million in reimbursements from external organizations.
The overtime data submitted to the State Controller’s Office covered the years 2021 through 2023. According to The Bee, in 2023, all 80 top overtime earners worked in either the Police or Fire Departments. That figure was 168 in 2022 and 184 in 2021. Only one non–Police or Fire employee—an administrative analyst with the Fleet Services Department—earned overtime equaling their base salary in 2023.
City officials say they are actively working to address the budget deficit. The results of ongoing budget negotiations may influence Sacramento’s future spending on public safety and could prompt a reevaluation of overtime pay practices across city departments.
