EVERETT — Even as Snohomish County was bracing for record layoffs and drawing up plans for reducing services, County Executive Aaron Reardon and the County Council approved at least $6 million in pay raises for county workers.
The deal also included a half-million dollars in what documents describe as a “signing bonus” for 1,600 workers represented by county government’s largest union.
The bonus appeared on paychecks last month, an average of about $300 per worker.
Even now, with the county trying to shave another $2 million from its budget, there is little second-guessing. Councilmen said they were still happy about their decisions.
“The thought was that if we need to make some cuts, we also need to be careful to treat our people fairly,” Councilman Dave Gossett said of the deal with the union that represents the largest share of county employees. “I think it was a very fair contract for both parties.”
To address a $21 million budget gap, Snohomish County cut about 9 percent from its general fund. The cuts meant eliminating 160 positions, about half through layoffs. The County Council also asked all department heads to come up with ways to collectively save another 1 percent or more this year.
The budget cutting will translate into reduced services for the public, officials have warned.
Other county and city governments are facing similar financial difficulties. Few are doing away with raises. King County, for example, gave employees a combined $8.7 million pay bump for cost-of-living despite falling revenues.
In January, the Association of Washington Cities asked nearly 200 municipalities what they were doing to balance budgets. Almost 18 percent said they had laid off employees — twice the number that had eliminated salary increases. Another 18 percent or so reported delaying or reducing raises.
Workers for Washington State Ferries, by contrast, reacted to the poor economy earlier this year by making a collective sacrifice.
Five unions representing roughly 1,500 ferry workers agreed to forego wage increases that were already in their contracts, saving the state $18 million in the next two-year budget. Gov. Chris Gregoire did not include any money for raises for ferry workers in her proposed budget. She said the move was necessary to help offset the predicted multibillion dollar shortfall.
Snohomish County Councilman John Koster, the Council’s lone Republican, didn’t disagree with approving raises for county workers.
He had only one regret: Not discussing furloughs at the same time.
The Council has suggested that all workers in the county government take up to 10 unpaid days off to save money. Those who provide 24-hour services, such as sheriff’s deputies and jail workers, would be exempted. Council staff and the most employees in the Clerk of Court’s office have agreed to furloughs, while informal talks are ongoing for others.
“A lot of people do good work for this county,” Koster said last week. “My only regret is that we would have been discussing the furlough issue at the same time.”
Other councilmen, including Gossett and current Chairman Mike Cooper, thought that furloughs were best addressed separately from the labor contract.
The raise for most employees amounted to about 90 percent of inflation, which was calculated with the Consumer Price Index.
On Dec. 17, the Council agreed to let Reardon sign the agreement with employees from the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees by a 4-0 vote. Councilman Brian Sullivan was not present but said recently that he strongly supported the move. Cost of living adjustments are an important way to keep up morale, he said, even in the worst of times.
“We need the best talent in the future and we need to get our pay scales up there,” Sullivan said.
Chris Dugovich, the head of the union that represents most of county employees, said his side saved the county a lot of money by presenting a contract without going into the full negotiation. The half-percent signing bonus, Dugovich said, does not apply toward the base pay, the starting point for future negotiations.
The pay increase, he said, had been in the works prior to the economic downturn.
“There was some recognition that things were changing,” Dugovich said. “And we were prior to the dire news that began in October.”
Raises for most employees were in the same range. At the Corrections Bureau, 216 workers received a straight 5.5 percent salary increase, guild president Rick Hecht said. Employees without union representation, who numbered 488, received an even 5 percent raise with no bonus, said Christopher Schwarzen, Reardon’s spokesman.
Noah Haglund: 425-339-3494, nhaglund@heraldnet.com.
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