PARIS — The Oxford County Commission has ratified a new three-year contract with sheriff’s deputies that boosts pay and tweaks their working relationship, ending more than three years of occasionally contentious negotiations. 

Retroactive to Jan. 1, all 19 employees will receive a pay increase of $1.75 an hour, with 2 percent raises in 2016 and 2017. The raises will cost the county an additional $74,000, bringing the total wage bill to approximately $884,675.  

The raises were not budgeted and the monies will be drawn from the county’s fund balance, according to Administrator Scott Cole. Benefits will remain the same. 

“On the whole, the commissioners feel that this agreement is fair to all – deputies, command staff and property taxpayers who ultimately foot the bill,” Cole said. 

A new provision known as a “fair share” fee has been inserted into the contract for the first time. It requires nonunion employees to pay 80 percent of annual membership dues to cover the costs of the union’s collective bargaining activities. 

Additionally, off-duty deputies will now be allowed to transport members of their family in police cruisers.  

Ray Cote, the Teamsters Local 340 representative, said the deal will become official after the parties sign off on it later this week. 

Sheriff Wayne Gallant, who oversees the deputies but was not a part of negotiations, said the contract was long overdue. 

“I’m pleased to see the county commissioners were able to see the importance as to what the deputies do and have reached an agreement,” Gallant said. 

The contract between commissioners and Teamsters Local 340 will replace an expired collective bargaining agreement honored for more than three years as the sides negotiated. It effectively froze wages from 2012 through 2014. 

The new contract reflects a compromise. Both parties gave concessions to make the deal possible.

While most deputies earn more than $17 an hour, the union complained that starting pay of $14.97 an hour was the second lowest among five neighboring counties. The union asked for a $3-an-hour raise. The union contended that an increase was not outside the county’s ability to pay, due to the $800,000 received annually from the Oxford Casino.

County commissioners argued that only newly hired deputies fell into the low-wage bracket and that the funds should be used to keep taxes low. They offered to bump wages by $1 an hour. 

A mediator’s $2-an-hour recommendation was eventually agreed upon.  

The protracted back-and-forth negotiations sometimes spilled into public view: In August 2013, deputies voted to disband the independent Oxford County Deputies Association, which negotiated new contracts with the county, and join Teamsters Local 340. Three months later, after a lengthy lapse at the negotiating table, the two sides met to hammer out a new deal. 

In April 2014 it appeared as though a new contract was likely, however no agreement was reached and in July 2014 deputies picketed to highlight their labor dispute. In November 2014 the Maine Labor Relations Board was brought in to try and negotiate a settlement, but in March union officials complained that the county rejected their recommendations, including a $2-an-hour raise for all deputies retroactive to July 2014, with subsequent raises, back pay and incentives for working night shifts. 

In April the sides appeared to be close to signing an agreement but abruptly shifted course over concerns the contract’s language needed tweaking. 

“A good contract contains certainty of outcome for most every conceivable situation that can arise, and a variety of things do develop in a police force this size,” Cole said. “Commissioners are satisfied that the contract provides certainty of outcome.”

ccrosby@sunmediagroup.net