Ruling on Deputies’ Pension Will Stand

In a decision that will cost Ventura County an estimated $1.5 million more each year in increased pension benefits for its unionized employees, the California Supreme Court has refused to hear additional arguments over retirement payments for sheriff’s deputies.

County Counsel James L. McBride said Monday that he had hoped the high court would clarify muddy areas of the pension plan that increase benefits for deputies with extra skills and responsibilities, such as bilingual ability or hazardous duty.

McBride also wanted the court to rule on whether the benefit hike should be retroactive and whether deputies can “spike” their retirement to a higher level by selling unused vacation time back to the county at the end of their careers.

But the court would hear none of it, deciding last Wednesday to let stand an August ruling that the county must include 11 additional pension enhancements above base pay when calculating deputies’ benefits.

Those include educational incentives, uniform allowances and special pay situations, such as hazardous duty, McBride said.

“Now it’s up to the policymakers to sit down and figure out the best way to implement the case,” said McBride, who received a mailed copy of the decision Monday.

The benefits boost will apply to employees in all eight county unions, said Ventura County Treasurer Harold S. Pittman.

Pittman said he will have to hire additional help just to calculate the pension changes. The changes will be retroactive for three years for all the county’s unions except the Ventura County Deputy Sheriff’s Assn., which will have the benefits calculated retroactive to March 1992--when the union first sued for the additional benefits, Pittman said.

“It’s scary no matter what,” he said. “We will work it as fast as we can.”