County sheriffs have negotiated a labor contract that could
afford them 17.5 percent raises over the next three years,
depending on how quickly salaries rise for their crime-fighting
peers in San Jose.
Morgan Hill – County sheriffs have negotiated a labor contract that could afford them 17.5 percent raises over the next three years, depending on how quickly salaries rise for their crime-fighting peers in San Jose.
The new contract for the roughly 415 members of the Santa Clara County Deputy Sheriffs Association is expected to cost the county $3 million annually, and will take effect today if approved by the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors. Today, supervisors are expected to approve similar wage hikes for 175 related law enforcement personnel, at an estimated yearly cost of $1.4 million.
The contracts guarantee a 9.5 percent raise through 2009, and also afford members of the sheriffs union and four other bargaining units a chance to earn additional raises of up to 4 percent in both 2008 and 2009. The extra pay bumps are tied to future raises given to members of the San Jose Police Department.
“San Jose is one of our biggest competitors,” said Deputy County Executive Luke Leung. “It’s the largest police agency in the county. We as a county have an interest in retaining our deputy sheriffs so they’re not migrating to other agencies after we pay to train them … It’s a self-preservation approach.”
Still, county officials facing a $227-million budget deficit said they insisted on the 4-percent ceiling for extra raises, even if San Jose police receive far more under a new contract.
Sgt. Matt Dutra, spokesman for the sheriffs union, could not be reached for comment. The agency has a budget of $112.6 million and a roster of 586 sworn personnel, though not all sheriffs choose to join the county union. Starting salaries in the department – which serves Cupertino, Los Altos Hills, Saratoga and unincorporated county areas – range from $65,000 to $80,000.
County officials described the latest round of bargaining with sheriffs as uneventful, at least compared to recent standoffs with district attorneys and nurses. Both groups threatened strikes in the last three years, Leung said, in an unsuccessful bid to win the right to binding arbitration. The power to call in an arbitrator who can impose decisions on a city or county is coveted by emergency and law enforcement personnel, who are barred by state law from going on strike. Many government officials, however, decry binding arbitration as a threat to local control of finances.
While sheriffs have no right to binding arbitration in Santa Clara County, negotiations with the union have gone smoothly in recent years.
“With the deputy sheriffs over the last four of five years, we’ve come to respect each other and they believe us when we tell them we don’t have any money now,” said Supervisor Don Gage, who represents South County. “There was one year, about three or four years ago, they took a zero percent increase to help us with the budget.”
But Gage said raises now will not protect the sheriff’s office from layoffs in the upcoming budget season. Offering a glimpse of how cuts may play out, he suggested that annexations of land by San Jose and other cities would reduce the need for deputies, for instance, allowing the county to lay off sheriffs assigned to areas that leave county control.
And sheriffs are not the only ones who should fear for their jobs.
“Everything is under consideration,” Gage said. “This budget is probably going to be the toughest that we have seen, because we’ve already cut everything we can.”
The county budget director is expected to present supervisors with a draft proposal for budget cuts in October.
FUTURE RAISES
Guaranteed Raises Potential Extra*
- 2007 – 5.5 percent
-
2008 – 2 percent up to 4 percent
-
2009 – 2 percent up to 4 percent
Total: Between 9.5 percent – 17.5 percent
- Based on future raises for San Jose Police
