Nassau Comptroller George Maragos is calling for an independent review of what he calls runaway overtime paid to county police.

His office says Nassau police overtime is projected to be about $70 million in 2016. That's $13 million over budget.

A total of 30 officers are expected to earn more than $100,000 in overtime. And Maragos says the payouts appear to be heavily skewed toward a small number of officers who tend to be the highest paid, with 90 percent also eligible for retirement.

"We have a deficit as a result of this overtime expense, which accounts for about $13 million, while we're cutting social services, youth services and making other cuts to programs in order to balance the budget," Maragos says. "That is not right."

One officer's overtime earnings could top $200,000 by the end of the year.

But Acting Nassau Police Commissioner Thomas Krumpter called the report "despicable."

"To come out with that report and ambush us clearly goes to the comptroller's political agenda," Krumpter says. "He's announced he's running for county executive, and he thinks that this is an appropriate use of his resources as the comptroller."

Krumpter argues that Maragos should have approached the police department first.

He blames the high overtime on a number of high-profile security events, like the presidential debate at Hofstra University and several campaign stops by Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton on Long Island.

"It's unexpected," Krumpter says. "We had a Verizon strike. We had a number of other major events this year that played to that overtime."

But the acting commissioner also says many of the top earners are homicide investigators.

"I hope the public doesn't think it's appropriate that we start taking away overtime from homicide detectives investigating murders and giving it to other employees within the department," Krumpter says. "Additionally, labor contracts spell out how a lot of overtime is distributed. We have no control over distribution."