The La Plata County Board of County Commissioners on Tuesday approved a collective bargaining agreement with the Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge #8, which represents the sheriff’s deputies.
The two-year agreement largely codifies existing policies. It includes a 2% increase in 2025 to the “step and grade” compensation plan already in place, wherein deputies receive step increases within their grade based upon tenure and training in addition to grade promotions.
Wages will increase 1.5% in 2026, according to the terms of the agreement.
County Manager Chuck Stevens said the price tag of the agreement – the expenditures necessary to uphold it that the county would not have otherwise incurred – was $1.3 million.
“We tried to maintain alignment with the bargaining unit (and) the rest of the organization,” Stevens said. “We didn't want one or the other to get out in front.”
County officials have, for the last several weeks, deliberated how much the county can afford to increase its employees’ wages to adjust for cost of living next year. The initial recommendation from staff was 2%, although that number is subject to change.
In a brief comment ahead of Tuesday’s vote, FOP Lodge #8 President and Deputy Keith McSweeney said he hoped the agreement would help increase employee retention.
“For so many years that I’ve been here, we’ve been a training ground for people leaving for the Front Range,” he said.
Approximately 121 deputies at the rank of sergeant and below, administrative assistants, evidence custodians and civilian investigators working for the county and the Sheriff’s Office are covered by the agreement.
Deputies voted 30 to 14 in favor of creating the bargaining unit March 20, in accordance with a 2022 law that afforded county employees the right to unionize.
County employees who have formed a collective bargaining unit or union may not strike, according to the law. The agreement struck between the FOP and La Plata County reinforces the provision.
“What I'm most proud of, I guess, is that it wasn't contentious on either side,” Stevens said. “There's obviously opportunity for negotiations of this nature to be contentious, and they weren't, they were collaborative and they were cordial.”
rschafir@durangoherald.com