Kane County Sheriff's union begins negotiating to avoid layoffs

Faced with a layoff of up to 10 deputies, Kane County Sheriff's union employees spent much of Wednesday in meetings with county board members to negotiate a compromise that will allow Sheriff Pat Perez to make his budget in 2010.

Union President Dennis Carroll began the day with a written statement for the county board that described the union's view of the situation: Kane County has fewer deputies on the street, working for less pay, with less backup, longer response times and more territory to cover than deputies in neighboring counties.

Carroll said the union already has made a concession in tough budget times by living with a staff cut down to 90 sworn officers. If the county wants more concessions, it must give a little as well, Carroll wrote.

"The reality of this predicament is if we accept the raise that was negotiated and alleviate our own personal budget crisis we have to watch 8-10 of our friends and co-workers at the lower ranks get sent home at Christmas time without jobs," Carroll wrote. "How do we tell our membership that we, and the rest of the Kane County taxpayers, can pay for the county board members' raises, the exceptional health insurance benefits provided to the board and the raises given to the Illinois State Police and other agencies but we can't have the raise that we agreed to with the county?"

The raise Carroll references was agreed to nearly four years ago when the county was in a better financial situation. Board members can't give up raises already established by law, but some have donated their raises to charity in a symbolic effort to make a sacrifice.

Still, Carroll said the union is willing to make some yet-to-be-detailed concessions, such as possibly deferring uniform allowances, that would possibly cut about $300,000 from the budget. The remaining $500,000 should come from abandoning a plan to use RTA sales tax money to purchase new vehicles and using that money for personnel costs instead.

After an afternoon negotiation session on Wednesday, Carroll said he believes the union and county were clear on the issues each side has with the need to make budget cuts. The county doesn't want to defer costs only to create budget problems in later years. The union doesn't want to make concessions that only address half the budget need.

"It's abundantly clear that if there were no union concession that layoffs would be the only option left for the county," Carroll said. "But if the county won't make some moves, particularly with the RTA money, and they won't entertain deferment, I just don't think that we can make up that $817,000 amount. So I still think we're in crisis mode. If you get rid of the people you would call when you have an emergency, what do you do when you have that emergency?"