By Ray Gronberg

gronberg@heraldsun.com; 419-6648

DURHAM -- Auditors may finish their investigation of a Durham Police Department desk officer's five-figure overtime claim today, in time for department leaders to spend the next couple days drafting their response.

City Manager Tom Bonfield said the Audit Services Department investigators would give their final report on the matter to him, Deputy City Manager Wanda Page and Police Chief Jose Lopez.

Bonfield has already seen some of the auditors' findings, and talked with them on Monday. He asked them to look at a couple issues where "they needed more follow-up."

That work was supposed to take place Tuesday.

The auditors at Bonfield's request are looking into overtime claims filed by Officer Alesha Robinson-Taylor, who heads the Police Department's towing and "secondary employment" office.

City records show that since July 1, 2008, Robinson-Taylor has received $62,583 in overtime compensation.

The figure is somewhat larger than the total that prompted Bonfield to order the investigation. The discrepancy comes because administrators initially queried the most recent 12 months of records, which showed $59,454 in payments.

The larger figure covers payments in fiscal 2008-09, plus those made in this fiscal year through Sept. 22.

Robinson-Taylor received $52,398 in overtime in fiscal 2008-09 and so far has made another $10,185 in this fiscal year.

Her base salary as of May 13 was $51,221 a year.

Bonfield has said the auditors are also looking into who authorized the payments.

Police Department policy, spelled out in a 2003 general order signed by former Police Chief Steve Chalmers, is that employees can't be paid for work "performed without the knowledge and approval of supervisors."

Overtime claims are supposed to be logged.

"All logs must be signed by the supervisor keeping the time and the employee, who by signing the form, indicates agreement with [the] log," the order says.

Robinson-Taylor answers to a short and relatively top-heavy chain of command.

At the moment, she reports to Capt. Charlene Balch, executive officer of the department's Operations Bureau. Balch in turn works for Deputy Police Chief Beverly Council and ultimately Lopez.

Balch was operations executive officer for only part of the time Robinson-Taylor was receiving large overtime payments. She took over the job early this year, replacing former Capt. Ron Evans.

City records don't show any overtime payments to Robinson-Taylor in fiscal 2007-08 or the final six months of fiscal 2006-07.

She claimed 1,837 hours of overtime work from July 1, 2008, forward.

Robinson-Taylor has been a city employee since October 1997.