Negotiations ongoing between county and deputy sheriff’s association

Negotiations between the Merced County Deputy Sheriff’s Association and the county have yet to produce an agreement after five months, but both sides said they are optimistic that a deal will be reached without having to go into mediation.

The one-year contract between the county and deputies union expired in June; since then, Sheriff’s Department employees have continued to work under the same terms and conditions through a “grace period” while negotiations are underway, said Phil Brooks, president and spokesman of the Deputy Sheriff’s Association.

Marci Barrera, the county’s negotiator, explained that though the contract ended in June, everything in the contract that doesn’t have a specific sunset date carries forward until a new agreement is made.

The deputies union represents 75 employees, including sheriff’s deputies, coroners and dispatchers. The next round of talks is scheduled for Oct. 5.

In recent years, the county and DSA have agreed to renew a yearly contract in which terms and conditions remained relatively the same, Brooks said. The length of the new contract still is being negotiated.

Brooks said DSA is looking for a “fair contract” and “adequate compensation, at the minimum, to attract and retain qualified applicants.”

Since April, negotiations have continued between the DSA and the county as deputies have hoped for a pay increase and the county has considered an economy that still is slowly recovering from the recession.

Both parties hope to come to an agreement sooner rather than later, but neither party could give an estimate for when that might happen.

Negotiations continue while the Sheriff’s Department faces 22 vacancies as deputies and high-level personnel leave for other agencies with better pay.

“We have an ongoing problem of losing deputies,” Brooks said. “That’s not a secret.”

But Brooks and Barrera say negotiations are more complicated and involve more technical details than pay.

Barerra said generally, when a contract expires, wages, hours, working conditions and terms of employment are negotiated.

Depending on rank and position, deputy coroners, deputy sheriffs and sergeants make anywhere from $36,000 to a little less than $65,000.

According to a survey agreed upon by the county and DSA, the Merced County deputy coroners’ salaries are 48 percent less than market value, Brooks said. In comparable counties, such as Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, San Joaquin, Stanislaus and Tulare, entry-level and sworn-in positions begin with a salary of at least $41,000, according to information on those counties’ websites. In Fresno, deputy sheriffs make up to $78,000, and in San Joaquin County they make up to $84,000.

Other law enforcement groups in the county, such as the Merced Police Department, are facing similar issues. Merced police Det. Joe Deliman said the city’s police force is short seven or eight officers. Similar to the Sheriff’s Department, officers are working longer hours with less staff to keep up with demand.

“We’re in a lot of ways in the same boat,” Deliman said. “Do they deserve more? Of course they do.”

Sheriff Vern Warnke said in previous interviews that the county should not consider deputies and other sheriff’s personnel equal to other county employees because of the risk associated with law enforcement jobs.

Barrera noted that in the years before the recession, 2005-2010, DSA members received a 29.5 percent wage increase while other groups did not. During the recession, the county generally did not grant raises to employees.

“Not all groups were treated the same,” she said. “A number of groups received less than that.”

DSA also hopes to address working conditions, Brooks said.

DSA typically has about 110 members when the agency is fully staffed. Brooks said the current numbers compare to numbers in the 1980s, though population and crime have increased. The understaffing is affecting officer safety, he said.

Brooks said as negotiations continue, DSA will continue what it’s been doing – driving home the points that matter for its members.

“The county is hopeful,” Barrera said. “We’d like to reach an agreement. It would be nice to reach it sooner than later.”

This story was originally published September 25, 2015 at 7:13 PM with the headline "Negotiations ongoing between county and deputy sheriff’s association."