The additional money approved over the life of the contract for 145 sheriff’s employees totals $1.6 million and 34 CSEA workers will receive $716,061 more.
The 116 corrections officers and medics are getting 5% pay bumps this year and 4% in each of the following two years. The 18 supervisors and 11 clerks will get across-the-board 4% pay raises for the life of their contracts.
Step increases are also factored into their compensation, wage rates in the contracts show the top pay for a corrections lieutenant in 2027 will be $105,144, paramedic supervisor $94,244, the ceiling in the final year of the deal for corrections officers is $75,920, medics $78,748 and clerks $64,854. Rookie lieutenants will start at $87,672 in three years, paramedic supervisors will start at $79,060, corrections officers $63,315, medics $66,123 and clerks $47,091.
Sheriff’s union President Jason Schultz said the vote totals for the three groups weren’t unanimous but there were only a handful of hold-outs. Given the current economic climate he said they are pleased with the deal that only took about four meetings to reach. He said bumping up starting pay should also help attract job candidates, “now we can say hey you’re going to start at this dollar amount and it’s 25% more than what we’ve been offering.”
“I think it’s fair, you know with inflation and the impact on the economy lately we were hoping for something bigger, but it’s significantly bigger than the one we got in the previous contract,” Schultz said and later added, “That five, four and four isn’t really a representation of what we got, the starting pay jumped significantly, the people in their first two years are getting like a 25% raise, which is good because we have a hiring issue, we can’t get people to come to the jail and work.”
They received across-the-board 2.5% pay hikes each year of the last contract that expires April 25.
Major Mike Craft, who has negotiated the last several contracts for the sheriff, said there was “a pretty big distance between the proposals but very quickly we were able compromise” and reach an agreement. All negotiations these days hinge on what other comparable law enforcement agencies are paying their people.
“The sheriff has always said I want them to make as much money as they can,” Craft said. “They’re not going to be the highest paid in the area on comparables, they’re certainly not going to be the lowest. He wants them in the top group and we were able to accomplish that.”
Usually the dispatchers are part of the Wage and Benefit union negotiations but this year they wanted to strike their own deal. Tammy Nutt, a dispatcher who is leading the effort to form their own union told the Journal-News, “we have no hard feelings or anything like that.”
“We’ve grown so much and they have different wants and needs than us,” she said. “We’ve grown enough that we can form our own now. Years ago back when we first started with them there was only maybe eight dispatchers and now we have close to 40.”
The new CSEA contract also pumped up starting pay 16.9% for clerks and case processors from $32,468 to $37,960, legal secretaries and other level two employees 21% from $34,486 to $41,766 and top level workers like investigators 21.4% from $37,128 to $45,094.
Job and Family Services Executive Director Julie Gilbert outlined the rest of the negotiated wage treatment in the new deal.
“The contract really falls in line with what the county is doing with the non-bargaining employees that fall under the commissioners, to create some consistency amongst all the staff,” she said. “We adjusted the wage scales that coincide with the non-bargaining and they were also given the 5% the non-bargaining were given.”
The workers will be given merit raises under the county performance pay plan in final two years of the contract.
The commissioners survey the competition every three years to see how the county stacks up pay-wise and did a salary survey “refresh” last year. County Administrator Judi Boyko said previously “the county’s pay ranges were substantially lower than public sector peers and like positions in the private sector, increasing the pay ranges was a necessity.”
As a result, instead of the traditional two-part merit pay plan, the commissioners approved increasing the minimum pay ranges for all non-union employees and a 5% raise for those who are below the maximum for their pay range. The cost is roughly $650,000 for non-union employees. This is a one-year deviation, they have said merit pay will return next year.
Gilbert said CSEA has had turnover just like every other county department and the hope is this new deal will help keep people in their seats and attract new when necessary.
“We just need to be able to attract competent employees, so the hope is that wages that are more competitive in nature we will see more staff retention and less turnover,” Gilbert said and later added with this contract “I feel that they are at a level that will get us through” until the commissioners do another wage survey.
Jessup Gage, the attorney who negotiated the contract for the union, said the members passed the contract by an “overwhelming majority” and it is a good deal for everyone.
“A 5% increase for the more seasoned employees is certainly more than they have received in many of their recent years as a wage increase,” he said. “So we’re certainly pleased about that and that obviously helped us reach an agreement without going to impasse.”
Commissioner Don Dixon reiterated that the county will be returning to the pay-for-performance plan next year. The plan calls for up to 2% raises on base pay and an additional lump sum of up to 2% all based on performance.
“This COVID put everything out of whack but I think we’ve found the new normal,” Dixon said. “I think our wages are competitive and reasonable now with what’s out there and our goal is to go back to the two-and-two after this phase of increases.”
About the Author