Deputies and County Near Wage Accord : Law enforcement: A tentative agreement has been reached and would give them a 4.7% wage increase. It would cost the county $3.8 million.

Orange County sheriff’s deputies, who have worked without a contract for the past month, have reached a tentative one-year labor agreement that would ultimately give them a 4.7% wage increase. The pay raise would cost the county about $3.8 million.

Sgt. Jerry Pierson, president of the 1,192-member Assn. of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs, said ballots were being collected from deputies Wednesday for possible ratification of the pact. If approved by the membership, the contract is scheduled for final consideration Tuesday by the County Board of Supervisors.

As proposed, the new contract would immediately give deputies a 3.7% raise, retroactive to Oct. 30, when the last pact expired. On June 25, each deputy would receive another 1% raise.

By the end of the contract, the raises would total an additional $1 per hour for the average deputy, who now earns slightly more than $23 per hour.

The deputies’ previous contract gave them five pay increases over the past three years. Negotiations between the association and the county had been ongoing since August.

Sheriff’s deputies patrol the streets of unincorporated areas and some smaller cities that contract for law enforcement services. The deputies also staff county jails. The association represents officers through the rank of sergeant and senior supervising investigator.

Bob MacCleod, the association’s general manager, on Wednesday declined to elaborate on the agreement or even predict when the membership would release its contract vote.

“All we can say is that there is a tentative agreement and any comment about approval would be entirely speculative at this time,” MacCleod said.

He also would not comment on whether association leaders have recommended approval. “There is nothing more we can say. It has not been ratified.”

Judy A. Davis, the county’s employee relations chief, said the proposed deal represented a “mutually agreeable resolution,” although it covers a shorter term than the previous contract.

Davis said “the agreement indicates that both sides weren’t willing to commit to longer than one year because of the great deal of uncertainty for what the year will hold” economically and otherwise.

The deal included no other major benefit changes, but it does propose a mileage reimbursement freeze at 39 cents for each mile, she said. Although deputies are provided county patrol cars, some investigators and other personnel assigned to the district attorney’s office use their private vehicles for county duty.

The proposal also reflects no change in deputies’ contribution toward the county’s health insurance program. On average, health coverage contributions total about $357 per officer each year.