A three-year contract has been ratified between unions at the Allen County Sheriff's Office and the county commissioners.
Commissioners approve the contracts for the gold, blue, and support unions. This covers most all employees at the sheriff's office. There are no re-openers for wages in the agreements and commissioners say that is a great help with the budgeting process by knowing what salaries will be for the next three years.
"If you're able to do this then it frees up a lot of time that you wouldn't have to spend each year negotiating contracts," commented Brian Winegardner, Allen County Commissioner.
The equitable salary increase in June of this year will continue through 2023 and there are percentage raises for 2024 and 2025. It appears the equitable salary increase is producing results.
"What we've seen with the equitable increase is definitely starting showing dividends to it. Because we are seeing that retention with our employees and they are starting to recruit some new officers, new correction officers, and employees in general," explained Winegardner.
Commissioners are in the midst of the budget process reviewing requests from all of the departments and crunching the numbers.
