Morgan said heavy duty shop supervisor Boyd Burnham, who received the largest chunk of the fleet's overtime pay with $22,204, had to fill in on the shop floor after one mechanic had a heart attack and another injured his shoulder. Other supervisors also had to pitch in to make up for being shorthanded and for extra demands during the winter months, Morgan said.

"That's unusual for him, but he and the rest of them all dug in and filled in the gaps," Morgan said. "Patterson views it as though we've abused the overtime. I think we had legitimate uses and the county benefited."

Other supervisors like Boswell, the maintenance supervisor who pulled in $14,197 in overtime pay, also say they had valid reasons for working the extra hours. Boswell's additional overtime dollars boosted his annual salary to $77,959, making him the highest-paid employee in the division, above even Morgan.

Before the overtime cutbacks, Boswell said he routinely worked 12-hour shifts during the summer. Due to unpredictable maintenance calls, Boswell said both he and his staff would often work on weekends and holidays.

"It's after-hours sort of things when we have guys on call," he said. "They were working, but there were probably some areas that could have been shortened up."

But 15-year fleet employee and mechanic Larry Caulkins said he's not surprised the fleet was running up a long bill of overtime hours. The entire division, he said, has been plagued with questionable time cards and work hour claims.

Many workers, Caulkins said, will sign in as though they are working on a vehicle and then take several hours to actually begin work. Routine safety inspections that should only take 30 minutes are often stretched out into an entire day, he said.

"I started seeing guys laying around sleeping and stuff and they're supposed to be working on county vehicles," Caulkins said. "The bosses want everybody to bill eight hours a day and they don't care whether you're actually doing anything or not."

Caulkins added, however, that the specious overtime and work hours have started to wane since county officials started enforcing stricter overtime requirements. The situation has also improved, he said, since Godfrey took over as interim fleet director.

"It's starting to evaporate, but there's probably still a little bit of padding," he said.

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E-mail: estewart@desnews.com