Deputies to get 8% raise over four years

County officials have reached a deal with sheriff’s deputies that would give them an 8 percent increase in their base pay over the next four years.

The Deputy Sheriffs’ Association of San Diego County, which represents about 2,300 deputies, approved the deal Monday night, the union’s president, Matt Clay, said Tuesday.

The county Board of Supervisors is set to vote on the contract Feb. 4, and then again for final approval on Feb. 25.

The pay increases will cost the county an additional $21.6 million over the life of the four-year agreement, county spokesman Michael Workman said.

The union’s leadership believes the deal would help recruit and retain deputies by setting the pay to be more competitive with other law enforcement agencies, Clay said.

“In totality, by the end of the contract, it puts us in a seemingly better position within the market,” he said.

The deputies’ base pay, if approved, would increase by 2 percent beginning in June.

The agreement also calls for increases of 1 percent in June 2015; 3 percent in June 2016; and 2 percent in June 2017, the final year of the contract.

The tentative deal also includes increasing from eight to 11 the number of steps it takes a deputy to reach the top of the salary table. That will help retain veteran deputies, Clay said.

The deal would also increase the amount that deputies will contribute to their retirement. The amount the deputies now pay is based on a sliding scale formula, which takes into account their age at the time they were hired.

By the end of the four-year contract, the deputies will be responsible for paying all of the employee portion, some of which the county had been picking up.