Deputies should be getting the raises

I read that the Lake County Board is thinking of giving themselves a 15.5 percent raise over four years for a part-time job and a couple of meetings per month.

We finally have a sheriff who is earning his money and not just collecting a paycheck. Sheriff Curran is working in the streets with the deputies, and he recently attended the Police Training Institute for his certification as a police officer to get a better sense of what life's like for the deputies under his command.

The real bad guys here are the Lake County Board members, who can vote themselves a raise with no negotiations, while the deputies of this county have been struggling to get by in this tough economy, without a new contract or a raise, since November of 2006.

The Lake County Board is a part-time job and they are paid very well for what they do. In fact, there are a lot of people struggling with two jobs that don't make $38,000 per year, plus the thousands they get for serving on the forest preserve, plus health insurance and a nice pension after only eight years on the job.

The board members have no problem voting for a 15.5 percent raise for themselves, yet they cringe at giving the deputies, who put their lives on the line every day, a 7 percent raise.

When was the last time any county board member had to place their life on the line on a daily basis? How many county board members have had to knock on the door of a stranger to deliver tragic news to that family? If the county board thinks it deserves such an increase, then surely our deputies' increase should be higher.

Deputies have been repeatedly told there's just no money for the raise they want, nor money for a bomb sniffing dog or other vital law enforcement equipment needs, so how is it that there's money for the board's pay raise?

It's time for those at the top to stop skimming off the fat and give the front-line workers their due. There are 16 county board seats up for election in November; maybe we should vote them all out of office. There is a public meeting to discuss this at 8:30 a.m. on Friday at the Lake County Transportation Division building on Winchester Road, west of Milwaukee in Libertyville. It's time our voices are heard.

John K. Van Dien

Lindenhurst