Sheriff’s Deputies to Vote on New Contract

Leaders of Ventura County’s deputy sheriff’s union have agreed on a tentative contract and are asking their 600 members to vote on it this week, potentially ending months of bitter negotiations. The multiyear contract includes a salary raise but leaves out a controversial provision that would have allowed some deputies to earn retirement pay nearly equal to their active wages.

Officials on both sides declined to reveal details of the tentative deal, saying they did not want to influence the balloting.

But Glen Kitzmann, president of the Ventura County Deputy Sheriffs’ Assn., allowed that the contract includes an initial raise sufficient to keep the salaries of deputies comparable to officer pay in surrounding cities and counties.

“We will have a contract that kind of keeps us at par at the beginning. But at the end we will probably fall behind,” Kitzmann said, declining to specify how many years the contract covers.

Deputies have until 6 p.m. Monday to vote on the labor agreement, said Kitzmann. The results will be announced Tuesday.

County manager Johnny Johnston called the proposed pact a “fair deal” that provides raises even as the county deals with the effect of slashing $17 million from its current budget.

County officials are also facing the prospect of closing medical clinics and trimming other basic services if the state follows through on a threat to cut funding to balance its own budget.

“[The contract is] reasonable under the circumstances,” Johnston said. “It isn’t everything they wanted, but it’s the best we could do.”

Union leaders had been pushing for pay hikes that automatically kick in whenever the average pay in neighboring police agencies goes up. But county negotiators had balkedat that, saying it takes away the Board of Supervisors’ control over pay.

Annual deputy pay currently ranges from $42,000 for trainees to $65,000 for a senior deputy.

The bigger blow for the union, though, was giving up the fight for an enhanced retirement benefit. Under the benefit, deputies would have earned 3% of the value of their pay and benefits for every year worked.

That means that a 25-year senior deputy would have been able to retire at age 50 and receive $66,000 annually as a pension--virtually equal to his or her active wages. The current standard is 2% for each year worked, or about $44,000.

Deputies last year threatened to walk off the job after supervisors held firm in refusing to grant the benefit. The deputies eventually backed off.

The union then spent $60,000 on a media campaign and unsuccessfully targeted Supervisor Judy Mikels for defeat in last spring’s primary election. Deputies suffered another setback when a Superior Court judge refused to allow the negotiations to proceed to binding arbitration.

The union had contended that a recently passed state law allowed arbitrators to step in to settle disputes. Union leaders appealed the court’s decision, but Kitzmann said it could be years before a final decision is made.

That prospect, and the declining national economy, made union leaders decide to take what they can get for now, Kitzmann said. But it does not mean they are happy with what is being offered, he said.

“They may vote to approve, but they are not real happy with it,” the union president said. “This is basically a Band-Aid on a gaping wound.”

Union leaders outlined the contract for about a third of the membership at a Monday meeting, Kitzmann said. Many voted on the spot, but others will receive ballots in the mail, he said.