Hefty pensions such as that of Stoneman Douglas deputy aren’t unusual.

Six employees made more than $100,000 in overtime last year

Broward Sheriff’s employees are beefing up their pensions by piling on overtime – some amounting to more than $100,000 a year.

The payments became an issue this week after the South Florida Sun Sentinel reported that condemned Parkland school deputy Scot Peterson receives a monthly pension of $8,702, based in part on overtime and other compensation.

The practice is common, according to sheriff’s office records. Sixty-three employees more than doubled their expected salary last year by using overtime, supplemental compensation and outside work, payroll records show.

Those salary bumps create generous pension payouts when officers retire. Money earned through overtime and supplemental earnings, not just regular salary, factor into pension amounts.

Six employees made more than $100,000 in overtime last year, records show. All received more in overtime than their regular pay.

Main jail deputy Arthur Reeves pocketed the most overtime: $123,331.52, on top of $68,910.31 in regular earnings.

Jail deputies Kurt Armstrong, Mary Hagan, Ronnie Peltier and Steven Seldin and dispatch center employee Tonya Hamilton also received more than $100,000 in overtime.

The Sheriff’s Office said Friday that it was working on a request to speak with the employees or to comment on their behalf, but the office had not responded by Saturday evening.

Peterson was placed on leave and then retired after the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where he was the school resource officer. He was accused of waiting outside as Nikolas Cruz, 19, killed 17 staff and students with an AR-15 rifle on Valentine’s Day.

Peterson’s monthly pension adds up to more per year — for the rest of his life — than he actually earned last year. That’s because it is based on the total number of years he worked for the agency (32.59), multiplied by a 3 percent value for being a police officer, and by the average of his five highest-paid fiscal years, according to a state pension handbook.

The average salary used to calculate his pension was roughly $106,810, according to a Sun Sentinel analysis. In 2015, for example, he took home $110,781. Peterson made $6,056.32 in overtime last year, in addition to his $75,673.69 in regular pay. He added on $13,714.25 in supplemental earnings and $6,434.77 for special detail. The Sheriff’s Office did not provide information about what he did for the additional pay.

Jeff Bell, president of the Broward Sheriff’s Office Deputies Association, said some deputies are “go-getters” and want to work extra for the overtime.

The agency is short on patrol and jail deputies, he said, leaving opportunities for people to add extra hours to their shift. Some districts mandate overtime because of shortages, Bell said.

Deputies who work more than 40 hours a week are eligible for overtime pay at 1.5 times their pay rate. They are not allowed to work more than 16 hours in a day unless approved by a supervisor.

A total of 1,612 employees — nearly 30 percent of the agency’s employees — took in more than $10,000 in overtime last year. Twentythree earned more in overtime than their regular pay.

Under the contract for deputies and sergeants, overtime is supposed to be “distributed equitably among bargaining unit members,” depending on job classification, organizational unit and the character of the work.