From the Chicago Sun-Times: Overtime payments to the Chicago Fire Department’s 50 “exempt” employees jumped from $18,516 in 2008 to $311,180 in 2009 and $191,293 during the first three months of this year. These payouts wiped out the savings generated by mandatory furloughs, according to a preliminary report issued by the city’s Office of the Inspector General.

The report quoted a senior official in the city’s Office of Budget and Management as saying that the city “lost money” on the fire department’s furlough program “because overtime payments exceeded the savings.”

Inspector General Joe Ferguson said he was “unable to ascertain” whether the spike in overtime was caused by a deliberate “attempt to circumvent the unpaid furlough mandate” or by more legitimate factors.