Supervisors OK Pay Hike for County’s Attorneys

After six years of legal wrangling, the Ventura County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved a $4.3-million pay package that will boost the salaries of prosecutors and public defenders over the next four years.

The pay raise is intended to bring in line the salaries of about 120 government lawyers, who typically earn $5,000 to $20,000 less annually than their counterparts in other Southern California counties.

Over the last nine years, the discrepancy has prompted roughly 70 lawyers to leave the district attorney’s office for higher-paying jobs in Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties, union officials said.

Union officials hope the new agreement will stop that trend.

“My hope is that this contract will go a long way to alleviate retention and recruitment problems that we have experienced in the last few years,” said Maeve Fox, a senior deputy district attorney and president of the attorneys’ union.

“I am very happy with the contract,” Fox said. “And I am very relieved that it is over.”

Although the agreement requires a final OK by supervisors next week, the board is expected to unanimously approve it.

Under the plan, prosecutors and public defenders will receive a 5% pay increase each year through 2003. By the fourth year, starting salaries for beginning attorneys will have jumped from $34,787 to $40,014, while salaries for those who have worked for the county for a few years will have increased from $52,598 to $71,526.

The money is expected to come from discretionary funds in the county’s general revenue pool. Some may also come from money collected through voter-approved Proposition 172. The half-cent sales tax set aside money for local criminal justice agencies.

The agreement follows years of stalled negotiations and bitter pay disputes.

County prosecutors and public defenders formed a union in 1993 after failing to receive a significant pay raise in eight years.

At the height of salary negotiations, the Criminal Justice Attorneys Assn. of Ventura County sued the county for alleged bad-faith bargaining and attempting to break up the union. The attorneys argued that they were being punished for organizing.

The lawsuit was later dropped after an agreement was reached in 1997 for a 3% across-the-board raise. But the contract still failed to give prosecutors and public defenders parity with their counterparts in neighboring counties.

Fox and others returned to the drawing board and were able to craft a new plan.

“This time we did not have the same kind of relationship with the county,” Fox said. “My feeling was that they realized there was a serious problem over here and it wasn’t that we were whining for money.”

Supervisor Kathy Long made reference to the stalled negotiations during Tuesday’s board meeting and praised both sides for reaching consensus.

“I appreciate all the hard work and staying at the table for such a long period of time,” Long said. “We really need to improve the process at the table, so we won’t have such long, drawn-out negotiations in the future.”

*

Times Community News reporter Pamela J. Johnson contributed to this report.