CHARLESTON, WV (WOWK) – Millions of dollars worth of overtime within the Charleston Police Department dominated conversation Monday night at the Charleston City Council meeting.

On Monday, Sept. 18, council members Shannon Snodgrass and Beth Kerns voiced their opposition regarding the thousands of hours of overtime racked up by officers last year. In fact, the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy says Charleston Police overtime exceeded $9 million in the past few years. That’s three times what was budgeted.

Snodgrass told WOWK 13 News she thinks they may need to ask state officials look into the overtime spending.

“To sit there on city council and not say anything on that kind of public spending, I think that would make me a hypocrite,” Snodgrass said Monday. “I do pay attention, I am going to be responsible, I am going to be physically responsible. And if the mayor’s not going to do anything about it, then maybe we have to ask the state to do it.”

The mayor and interim police chief have previously defended the overtime pay for police officers. They say the officers deserve to be paid for the hours they work.