San Diego Police Officer Jason Costanza earned $285,741 in overtime pay last year, good for 144% more than his annual salary. Over the course of the past five years, from 2021 through December 2025, Costanza took home more than $1.28 million in overtime pay alone, more than any other city employee, according to public records obtained by Times of San Diego.SDPD Officer Anthony Bueno took home $209,936 in overtime pay in 2025. Since 2021, he’s earned $949,143 in overtime pay. Officer Stephen Rocha took home more than $209,000 in overtime last year, pushing his five-year overtime earnings to $882,332.Police department records show three police officers and two sergeants made over $200,000 in overtime pay in 2025, on top of their salaries and benefits. Another 35 police officers collected more than $100,000 in overtime pay each.Overall, the city in 2025 paid $47.7 million in overtime to its police force in 2025, according to the annual compensation report the city must submit to the state.
But that total actually represents a $1.3 million reduction from police overtime payouts in 2024.
While the department exceeded its budget for overtime expenses, much of that overtime spending went to staffing for special events, traffic enforcement, and other work for which the city gets reimbursed from outside groups. The department argues overtime is necessary to reach expected service levels while dealing with staffing shortages. “SDPD has taken great strides to be fiscally responsible with taxpayer dollars by reining in spending in certain areas, such as overtime,” department spokesperson Ashley Nicholes told Times of San Diego. “This has been a challenge for the department in prior years; however, it has been a priority for Chief Wahl since he took over in 2024.”The city’s independent budget analyst projected in February that the department’s overtime spending for the fiscal year that ends in June will finish below annual spending each of the two previous fiscal years.“SDPD continues to be one of the lowest-staffed big-city police departments relative to population, making overtime a critical resource,” Nicholes said. “Overtime is relied upon to sustain service levels, maintain response times, and support special operations.”She said annual compensation reports, such as the one obtained by Times of San Diego, do not reflect overtime expenditures that are reimbursed by third parties.“Some overtime for officers that is part of reimbursable work through special events, grants, or other contracts, which appear as overtime but are not City-funded,” Nicholes said. “This can include Padres games and other special events, as well as grant-funded overtime to address issues such as DUI enforcement or ABC operations, among others.”Fire and Rescue — not SDPD — is the city department that historically spends the largest amount on overtime. Fire and Rescue last year spent $62.4 million in overtime, according to the state compensation report.The fire department was $71 million over budget for overtime pay during the five year period that ended with the 2024 fiscal year, according to a March 2025 analysis from the city auditor. The department addressed the overrun with salary savings and reimbursements from fire strike team calls. While Costanza earned the most in overtime pay for the last calendar year, 14 of the city’s top 20 overtime earners worked for the fire department.
“Officers assigned to specialized units such as the Collision Investigation Bureau, which handles investigations into serious and fatal collisions, may be required to work more overtime,” Nicholes said. “This unit handles investigations into these serious collisions for the entire city. The officers have a higher level of training and require more time to conduct these types of investigations, and not all officers have the training needed to fill this role. This unit is experiencing the same staffing shortages as the rest of the Department, and coupled with well-deserved vacation or planned time off for our officers, may require additional overtime by some officers.
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