NYCHA’s plumbers $oak up OT gusher
The city’s budget has sprung a big leak.
Overtime spending at the city’s embattled Housing Authority ballooned to $95.5 million last year, as employees labored to correct the scandalous living conditions that led to a partial federal takeover of the agency, new payroll figures from the Empire Center think tank show.
Some of the biggest payouts went to NYCHA’s plumbers — one of whom took home more than a quarter of a million dollars in total pay thanks to massive overtime.
Robert Procida racked up $181,422 after working 1,668 hours in extra shifts. That’s an average of 32 hours of overtime a week.
It brought his total take-home pay to $286,246 for the year, the Empire Center found.
More than half of NYCHA’s 13,000 employees worked extra time between July 2018 and June 2019, according to an analysis of payroll data by the conservative group.
Overall, New York City spent $1.9 billion on overtime in its most recent budget, according to the figures.
NYCHA’s overtime spending has risen in recent years, growing 58 percent from the $60.6 million it spent during the city’s 2015 budget year.
The $95.5 million it spent during the most recent budget year is also up 1 percent from the $94.5 million it spent during the 2018 budget year, which ended in June 2018.
A NYCHA spokesman attributed the overtime surge in recent years to growing repair needs and new efforts to combat the agency’s chronic heat and water outages, which are often linked to the decrepit pipes and plumbing in its 316 housing developments.
That’s borne out in who scored the overtime.
The authority’s 19 plumbing supervisors scored the biggest average overtime payments, earning on average $71,505 from extra shifts.
They are charged with supervising and directing the work done by NYCHA’s plumbers and other staff in connection with the water, drainage and gas systems at the sprawling public-housing agency. All told, they racked up a combined $1.4 million from 12,492 hours of overtime.
In addition to Procida, who has worked for NYCHA since 1987 and who could not be reached for comment, the other biggest plumbers on the overtime list included Daniel Hock Jr., who got $130,901.16 in overtime, and José Ortiz, who got $124,343.01.
The union representing NYCHA’s plumbers, United Association Local 1, did not return a message from The Post seeking comment.
“Our goal is to improve productivity and deliver the highest level of service to our residents, and we will use all tools at our disposal, including overtime,” said NYCHA spokesman Chester Soria.