Twin Falls is paying top dollar for airport security, but other Idaho airports are getting more police protection at comparable rates.

The difference?

At Joslin Field, Magic Valley Regional Airport, city officers work two-hour shifts at time-and-a-half their usual pay, city officials said.

And often the department's highest-paid cops pull the extra duty.

Until June, when SkyWest Airlines dropped a flight, the city provided a police officer for 10 hours each day at the airport, at an annual cost of more than $150,000. Most of the cost was reimbured by the federal government.

During the first 10 months of fiscal 2008, which ended Sept. 30, Joslin Field's security bill was about $110,000, with about $92,000 reimbursed by the federal government and the city paying the remainder, said Finance Director Gary Evans. Almost all of the money went for overtime pay.

City officials say the staffing pattern is the most cost-effective way to meet federal requirements that an armed peace officer be present when passengers are screened.

But that doesn't mean it's the least-expensive approach.

The TFPD said officers volunteer for airport shifts, which are awarded on a first-come, first-serve basis. If only entry-level officers were involved, the cost would be about $84,000 per year, based on an overtime rate of around $23 per hour.

But often the city's top cops are checking traveler IDs and standing by to assist Transportation Safety Administration screenerss. Capt. Brian Pike worked the airport in July at an overtime rate of $56.96 per hour, for example, while fellow Capt. Bryan Krear pulled shifts at $56.84 per hour.

"While the majority of the shifts are staffed by police officers, staff sergeants and captains do work a certain number of these shifts," said TFPD Staff. Sgt. Dennis Pullin, responding to general questions posed to the department brass. "Because of manpower shortages and other overtime commitments, a number of shifts must be staffed by supervisors, captains and on-duty personnel in order to meet our commitment."

How many of those shifts go to high-ranking officers is unclear. The Times-News requested access to copies of signup sheets to determine how much of the overtime goes to top administrators, but the city refused the request, saying that releasing the information would invade their privacy.

Airport officials in other Idaho cities readily released pay information for their officers. The Idaho Falls airport, for example, sent a copy of an officer's signed timecard, which listed how many hours he had worked at the airport and on which days.

Twin Falls did make available a list of officers who worked at least one airport shift during the months of July and August of 2007 and 2008 - sample months selected by the Times-News. While 40 officers each worked at least one shift, only 11 worked in all four months.

In a written statement Friday, city officials said that "over the past seven years, the police department has implemented different (airport staffing) plans, and the effort is a continual work in progress."

City officials say they prefer to pay off-duty police to work at the airport to avoid diverting officers from regular patrol duties. And the city is "hesitant to hire officers (for the airport) that would have to be laid off or suddenly funded in full by (local) tax dollars," if federal money is cut, Pike said.

But other Idaho airports of comparable size do the opposite, and put more cops on the airport beat.

"Overtime's too expensive - that's time-and-a-half," said Pocatello Chief Financial Officer David Swindell. "We already tried experimenting with that and it was costing way too much money."

Instead, Pocatello Regional Airport has three full-time and two half-time officers who cover the facility for 18.5 hours per day - or a cost of about $44.50 per hour of coverage, based on Times-News calculations. The feds pitch in $180,000 and the city pays $120,000, airport officials said. Pocatello's airport is similar to Joslin Field, with just four daily departures, though it has to meet a slightly higher security standard because it once had more, said Kristy Heinz, an administrative assistant at the Pocatello airport.

Heinz said having officers dedicated to the airport beat results in a higher level of security.

"It's a whole different world at airports," Heinz said. "If you just have whoever's on a shift, you don't get as specialized a deal. With all that time at the airport, you can get â€- a little more knowledge than people just out here for an hour watching the flights go out."

Idaho Falls, with more daily flights, spends about $300,000 for for full-time and four part-time police officers who cover the airport 20 hours per day, with the feds covering about half, airport officials said. Its hourly cost for coverage is about $41.

Until June, Twin Falls was paying about $42 per hour for its airport cops.

Twin Falls police say they would need about four full-time police officers assigned to the airport to follow the staffing patterns favored by Idaho Falls and Pocatello. An entry-level TFPD officer costs the city about $46,000 per year in pay and benefits, said city personnel director Susan Harris, so four positions would run $184,000.

"There's not enough money to staff that," Pike said. "If we took that (federal reimbursement) money and tried to hire officers out there, we wouldn't get the coverage that we need."

City Manager Tom Courtney added that "We have been trying to minimize the burden on the local taxpayer while meeting the requirements of the mandate."

When asked if the department could provide current coverage levels for less by limiting the work to lower-level officers, Courtney said it would be too difficult.

"We encourage people off-duty to work and we don't force anybody," he said. "There's a cross-section of officers working out there. If you had nothing but brand-new police officers working, than that might be possible."

Jared S. Hopkins may be reached at 208-735-3204 or jhopkins@magicvalley.com.