Tentative agreement presented to union for vote

BY KEVIN BONESKE

REPORTER/PHOTOGRAPHER

A resolution calling for a new four-year contract with the Oneida County sheriff’s deputy association has been forwarded to the County Board for approval at its Oct. 17 meeting.

The resolution backed Monday by the county’s Labor Relations/Employee Services Committee calls for a series of hourly rate increases in the deputy association’s wage scale, which would take effect in the four-year period starting from Dec. 30, 2017, to the beginning of the payroll closest to Dec. 31, 2021.

As stated in the resolution, the proposed hourly rate increases are as follows:

Dec. 30, 2017 – 1 percent

June 30, 2018 – 1 percent

Dec. 29, 2018 – 1 percent

June 29, 2019 – 2 percent

April 4, 2020 – 2 percent

Dec. 26, 2020 – 1 percent

June 26, 2021 – 2 percent

Voluntary Employees Beneficiary Association (VEBA) deposits made by the county would increase over the contract period so that a per-pay period deposit in each employee’s VEBA account would be equal to: $95.85 –December 2017; $96.81 – June 2018; $97.78 – December 2018; $99.74 – June 2019; $101.73 – April 2020; $102.75 – December 2020; and $104.81 – June 2021.

The VEBA account deposit in effect as of Jan. 1, 2017, is at $94.90. The deposit amount would be recalculated for each subsequent year of the agreement based upon the annual cost of living adjustment.

Other contract provisions listed in the resolution include language for hospital and sickness insurance, in which the county “may offer multiple plans and shall contribute 90 percent of the designated preferred premium plan” with the employee paying the remainder.

The proposed contract also calls for incorporating a letter of agreement for paid time off (PTO) to modify language for a payout, as well as for the proration of unpaid leaves of absence with the reference of “pro-rated earnings” removed from (PTO) rules.

The county’s current three-year agreement with the sheriff’s association expires at the end of 2017.

Supervisor Billy Fried, a Labor Relations/Employee Services Committee member from Minocqua, said he is excited about reaching a four-year contract with the deputy association, which would give the county stability with a longer-term agreement.

A member of the deputy association, detective sergeant Bob Hebein, said a tentative agreement reached for a new contract was presented to the association members for a ballot vote. Hebein declined to comment Tuesday on the agreement pending the vote’s outcome, in which 31 members would be able to cast ballots.