Deputy Sheriffs’ Union Strikes Deal with County

The Deputy Sheriffs’ Association has agreed to a tentative understanding that will save Santa Barbara County millions of dollars over the next few years.

The union — which represents about 460 employees within the Sheriff’s Department — ratified the agreement, which will eliminate a 3 percent pay increase scheduled for later this month, and also provide pension reform for the union’s future non-sworn employees. As well, the memorandum of understanding, set to expire in February 2013, will extend through February 15, 2015. The Board of Supervisors still must vote on the agreement on Tuesday.

According to county officials, the agreement would result in savings of roughly $1.419 million this fiscal year and $1.677 million in each of the subsequent years. These totals are in addition to other savings to the county from DSA concessions made last year. The county is saving $1.04 million this fiscal year and $680,000 the next because of that agreement. The savings through February 2015 because of those two deals totals $7.588 million.

Also part of the deal, the resulting savings unrelated to retirement will remain within the Sheriff’s Department.

The DSA is the latest union to offer concessions on previously negotiated agreements.

The Sheriff’s Managers Association, which represents 30 or so people, agreed to a wage reduction and a year-and-a-half deferment of a previously negotiated wage increase. Pension reforms will also be renegotiated. In total, the county will save $273,000 this year and about $1 million over the course of the contract.

The firefighters’ union deferred several scheduled wage increases over the next two years for a grand total savings of more than $3.9 million over three years. The Engineers and Technicians Association (ETA), which represents roughly 129 employees, in a new memorandum of understanding that runs to June 2013, will save the county $842,025 in each of the two years of the agreement.