News & Events

Holyoke mayoral candidate calls for audit in wake of police overtime revelations

HOLYOKE — The two candidates running for mayor in Holyoke are reacting to a Gazette report on overtime spending in the city’s Police Department, detailing the department’s highest-paid overtime earners, the majority of whom are supervisors.

In a social media post, Blandford Town Administrator Joshua Garcia said Wednesday that “excessive overtime” in city departments is a symptom of the larger problem of disjointed administrative structures in Holyoke, and that the Police Department shouldn’t be singled out. He promised to look at directing merit pay increases to first responders using coronavirus relief funds from the American Rescue Plan Act next year.

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