AUDIT FINDS COUNTY FUNDING FOR PAY RAISES, DEPUTIES SAY.Byline: Deborah Sullivan Daily News Staff Writer Working without a contract since July 12, the Ventura County Deputy Sheriffs' Association said Tuesday that an audit it commissioned proves the county has enough money to pay raises to all its employees. ``What we found is that there are several areas in the county budget that hold enough funds for all county employees to be given salary and benefit improvements,'' David Williams David Williams is the name of: Musicians
About 150 sheriff's deputies bearing placards stating their grievances attended the meeting to support Williams' plea for an end to the contract impasse im·passe n. 1. A road or passage having no exit; a cul-de-sac. 2. A situation that is so difficult that no progress can be made; a deadlock or a stalemate: reached an impasse in the negotiations. . They then gathered outside the Hall of Administration for a rally to voice their demands. The association contends that sheriff's deputies earn 5 percent to 10 percent less than officers in Simi Valley Simi Valley (sē`mē, sĭm`ē), city (1990 pop. 100,217), Ventura co., SW Calif. in an oil, fruit, and farm region; laid out 1887, inc. 1969. , Oxnard, Ventura and Santa Barbara Santa Barbara (săn'tə bär`brə, –bərə), city (1990 pop. 85,571), seat of Santa Barbara co., S Calif., on the Pacific Ocean; inc. 1850. , and argued that a pay raise is needed to attract the best officers to the department. County officials have said, however, that the department pays nearly as much as surrounding agencies. With negotiations stalled stall 1 n. 1. A compartment for one domestic animal in a barn or shed. 2. a. A booth, cubicle, or stand used by a vendor, as at a market. b. , the association commissioned the San Francisco San Francisco (săn frănsĭs`kō), city (1990 pop. 723,959), coextensive with San Francisco co., W Calif., on the tip of a peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, which are connected by the strait known as the Golden firm of Harvey M. Rose to determine whether there is extra money in the budget to raise sheriff's deputies' pay and benefit levels. A preliminary draft of the audit concluded that the county is in ``excellent financial condition'' and holds a fund balance of more than $35 million as of June 30, 1996. Williams also said the county has held fund balances totaling $33 million for the past five fiscal years. A portion of that money could be used to pay for deputies' pay increases, Williams said. ``For example, if you gave all deputy sheriffs a 5 percent raise this year, that would bring us into parity parity or space parity, in physics, quantity that refers to the relationship between an object or process and the image that it can produce in a mirror. with surrounding agencies,'' Williams said. However, Ventura County Auditor Tom Mahon said the reserves cited in the audit are not idle pots of money, but crucial safety nets for the county. While the audit's numbers are correct, the interpretation of those figures is somewhat skewed skewed curve of a usually unimodal distribution with one tail drawn out more than the other and the median will lie above or below the mean. skewed Epidemiology adjective Referring to an asymmetrical distribution of a population or of data , he said. ``The conclusions drawn are not necessarily correct, nor do they take in a total county picture: the fact that our cash is going down, that we spend more than we take in, and we cover that by using our fund balances,'' he said. Supervisory John Flynn said the association's recommendations would bankrupt the county. ``We do not have $33 million available for salary increases,'' Flynn said. ``If the board made that assumption anyway, and we gave raises totaling $33 million, we would be headed in the direction of Orange County.'' |
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