County Sheriff’s Department union employees will be getting a raise, after Supervisors approved a new labor contract.
The new contract runs from Jan. 1, 2026, through Dec. 31, 2028 (three years) and includes the Deputy Sheriff’s Law Enforcement, Non-Safety LE, and the Dispatcher’s labor Units, a total of 181 employees across the three units. The Supervisory Law Enforcement Unit also got a new contract with complimentary salary hikes.
Overall, the employees will see $2.01 million increase in salaries for this fiscal year; $4.84M in 2026-27; $6.68M in 2027-28; and $7.58M “ongoing,” according to the report from County Human Resources Director, Jamie Russell.
The County conducted a salary survey to compare its compensation rates to other presumably comparable counties and negotiated with the union representatives last fall coming to agreement last November. Supervisors unanimously approved the contract in December.
While the annual increase is 2%, because of the salary survey, some employees are getting a much greater raise to match the salary survey’s results. For example, Sheriff’s Correctional Deputies, Senior Correctional Deputies, Sheriff’s Cadets, Dispatchers I, II and III, plus Correctional Sergeants and Dispatch Supervisors are all getting 8% raises, while Forensic Laboratory Specialists will see 5%.
As of Jan. 1, 2027, the pay structure will add a seventh step in the pay hierarchy that will give people already at the highest pay level for their jobs (step six), a chance to earn more without having to change jobs.
“The pay rate of the seventh step,” Russell’s report said, “shall be 5% above the pay rate of the sixth step, and employees may qualify for advancement to step seven after completion of the equivalent of one year of full-time service in step six and upon the recommendation of the department head and approval by the human resources director.”
The following year an eighth step will be added that is 5% higher than the seventh step, but they are eliminating the first step to keep the number at seven. But don’t fret, salaries for entry level employees will change too.
“Employees in step 1,” Russell said, “shall have their pay increased to the rate of the new step 1. Employees in steps two through six of the current salary range, and employees at step seven of the current salary range who are not yet eligible for the new top step, shall have their step placement reduced one level, but their hourly rate of pay shall remain unchanged. This is referred to as ‘add-a-step/drop-a-step’.”
The pay raise starting Jan. 1, 2028, is only 1%, however, each of the employees — except Sheriff’s Cadets — will get a $2,400, 1-time cash bonus. And any increased pension costs will not be paid by the employees.
“The employee contributions specified above are intended to mitigate the impact of rising pension costs on employee compensation,” the report said.
On the County taxpayers’ side of the ledger, “the County contribution for “premiums, commonly referred to as cafeteria contributions, for the County’s health insurance plans” will be increased during this contract.
For a single employee the County is increasing its payments from $900 a month to $940; from $1,300/mo to $1,399 for one dependent; and for an employee with more than two dependents, the increase in medical insurance contributions will go from $1,625/mo to $1,727.
And in subsequent years, the County’s share of these costs will be increased according to the percentage change in costs to the County, so employees will not pay increases in insurance costs, up to 10%. But if they rise even more than 10% they won’t have to pay the entire increase.
“If the premium increase for the lowest-cost non-high-deductible medical plan exceeds 10.0%, calculated to one-tenth of 1 percent,” Russell’s report said, “the County and employees shall share 50/50 the cost of the percentage increase in excess of 10%.” The same cost sharing scheme will be in effect for the final year of the contract as well.
Other details of the new contract include:
• Added pay for bilingual employees will go up, rising from $100 to $150/mo for “intermittent use” and from $150-$200/mo for “regular and routine use.”
• Stand-by pay goes up from $3/hour to $5/hr.
• The stipend *extra pay) for K-9 officers goes up from $200-$250/mo, and off-duty care pay goes from $22.50 for 7 hours a week to $24.
• Uniform allowance goes up from $75-$90 a month.
• Vacation leave “cash outs” go from 40 hours to 80 hours a year.
