Chicago Fire Department on pace to exceed OT budget

Chicago’s fire department is on pace to spend more than twice its overtime budget this year.

That’s according to a report by WBEZ.

The radio station says the overtime could reach $43 million, well above the $20 million budgeted by the mayor’s office.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel wants the city council to approve a $575.7 million budget for the department in 2014. That includes about $35.4 million in overtime, a 77 percent increase from this year.

Department spokesman Larry Langford says part of the overtime is because the agency hasn’t been able to train new recruits in recent years because of a lawsuit.

Police are on pace to spend $93 million in overtime this year, mostly because of a program that floods the city’s most violent neighborhoods with police.