Derry City Council forked out almost £750,000 in overtime and mileage costs in 2007.

alan@derrynews.net

The figures were disclosed at a special meeting of council’s Policy and Resources committee on Thursday afternoon, where the City Treasurer Joe Campbell revealed that council had forked out £610,392 and £171,251 on overtime and mileage respectively.

The figures represent the nine months leading up to December 31.

The overtime cost for 2007 marked a reduction on £24,774 on the previous year, with the City Treasurer adding that the decrease could be attributed to the introduction of new working arrangements for staff at council’s Leisure Centres.

Speaking at the meeting, East Derry DUP MLA Gregory Campbell enquired how the figures compared against other boroughs in the north.

“There are two comparators we have to look at here,” he said, “the similar period last year, and it’s down so that’s good.”

“The second is - are other councils who have similar problems down as well?”

The City Treasurer Joe Campbell responded that he had seen a report on the Belfast area which had been revealed under the Freedom of Information act, and if the figures were taken per head of population then Derry was well below Belfast.

He added that they had almost eliminated all overtime in leisure centres, but there were still other areas such as the cemetery - where weekend work was required – that needed to be addressed.