Police Department H Day Cancellation Audit (SB26-13670)

At a glance

What: Biennial performance audit of the Police Department's cancellation of officers' scheduled days off ("H days"), fiscal years 2024 to May 2026.
Where it stands: noted by the board Oct 21, 2026. The department agreed with all four findings.
Next: Workday pay codes and edit checks (about 8 weeks for codes, several months for the full change), retraining, recoupment of about $36,000, and a push in the next bargaining round to change commissioner days.

An H day is a scheduled day off. It may be canceled only for staffing shortages, operational commitments and special events, under the contract with the Fraternal Order of Police.
A canceled day pays 8.5 hours of straight time back plus penalty pay of 4 hours (more than 48 hours notice) or 6 hours (less than 48 hours), with a 4-hour minimum guarantee. Officers can try to reschedule within the 28-day pay cycle but rarely do.
The police commissioner designates five commissioner days a year when no penalty pay applies.

Approvals and reasons not consistently documented: in a sample of 30 officers (62 events, 234 cancellations), no leadership notification was attached; 10% (fiscal 2025) and 8% (fiscal 2026) of comments gave no reason. Notice timing could not be tested, so 4 versus 6 hours could not be confirmed.
About $36,000 of penalty pay was paid on commissioner days when none applies; internal quarterly reviews repeated findings without action plans, and reviewers could not open Workday attachments.
Workday gaps: the 4-hour minimum can be entered twice for one day, and additional hours can be booked on regular work days.
The pay structure gives officers a financial reason not to reschedule. Recommendations: negotiate more commissioner days and assign them to groups instead of department-wide.
Overtime from H days was excluded because no separate work code exists. Pash said the audit was not a fraud audit.

Smullian said cancellations are a last resort, fiscal 2026 cancellation costs fell about 38% (about $3 million to $1.7 million), and the department has not won agreement on commissioner days in recent bargaining.
Williams asked for reviewer access and about five new pay codes; Loffler said no administrative action has been taken and misuse is not believed, but future non-compliance could be referred for investigation.
Council President Cohen raised overtime concerns and the 20% staffing gap; Mayor Scott cited the consent decree and improved attrition; the city administrator said fire contracts have the same problem and changes need bargaining or arbitration.

About 65 minutes across 1 meeting (from transcript timestamps; approximate).

Meeting	Minutes
2026-10-21 - Board of Estimates	65

2026-10-21 - 2026-10-21 - Board of Estimates: audit presented by Pash, Police Department response, extended questions; noted.
2026-10-07 - 2026-10-07 - Board of Estimates: deferred to October 21 at the city administrator's request; no discussion.