Genesee County Legislature’s Ways & Means Committee this afternoon voted in favor of a four-year contract, retroactive to Jan. 1, 2020, with the Genesee County Deputy Sheriffs’ Association that calls for between 2 and 2 ½ percent annual pay raises.
Terms of the pact include salary increases of 2 percent for both 2020 and 2021, 2.25 percent for 2022, and 2.5 percent for 2023.
Additionally, according to County Manager Matt Landers, deputies will pay slightly more toward the employee share of health insurance premiums but will receive slightly more for the uniform allowance.
Landers said that it was his understanding that the contract passed overwhelmingly in a vote by the union membership, which consists of road patrol deputies, investigators and school resource officers.
A telephone call to Union President John Baiocco was not returned at the time of the posting of this story.
“The contract has expired, so hopefully in the future we can put ourselves in a position to have a contract settled without having any period where there is an expired contract,” Landers said. “That’s my personal goal as county manager and I’m going to work very hard to accomplish that. In this case, COVID threw everything for a loop. This is an atypical contract. I don’t expect the next contract to have a year and half expired before we ratify a new one.”
Landers said Sheriff William Sheron “hammered out directly with the union some things that are more procedural, but as far as monetary terms, we pretty much got that done with both sides agreeing that it is fair.”
Per the resolution, funds to cover contract costs were budgeted in the county’s contingency account.
Landers said that due to vacant positions in the Sheriff’s Office, funds are available to cover a portion of the increase. The total transfer from contingency is $116,199.
Mortgage Tax Distribution Increases
In other action, the committee approved a resolution authorizing County Treasurer Scott German to distribute the first of two mortgage tax payments for 2021 to the City of Batavia and the county’s towns and villages.
The amount to be allocated, $465,343.03, is more than $75,000 higher than the first payment in 2020 and $200,000+ more than the first payment in 2019.
County Clerk Michael Cianfrini said he attributes the increase to the robust housing market.
“It’s probably a combination of the economy improving so you’re seeing more house purchases than you’ve seen in recent years,” he said. “My speculation is that it is due to the fact that housing prices have gone up so much, and the mortgages that people are taking out on the houses are significantly higher than recent years.”
The amount of the mortgage tax distributions are as follows:
- City of Batavia -- $81,520.65;
- Town of Alabama -- $12,378.68;
- Town of Alexander -- $19,562.53;
- Town of Batavia -- $80,877.17;
- Town of Bergen -- $24,236.58;
- Town of Bethany -- $14,662.19;
- Town of Byron -- $21,697.85;
- Town of Darien -- $37,676.58;
- Town of Elba -- $11,478.03;
- Town of Le Roy -- $43,476.29;
- Town of Oakfield -- $13,307.92;
- Town of Pavilion -- $13,335.52;
- Town of Pembroke -- $44,538.34;
- Town of Stafford -- $21,776.79;
- Village of Alexander -- $2,014.82;
- Village of Attica -- $708.96;
- Village of Bergen -- $3,348.50;
- Village of Corfu -- $2,696.30
- Village of Elba -- $1,418.78;
- Village of Le Roy -- $12,577.40;
- Village of Oakfield -- $2,055.15;
The committee also recommended the reappointment of Matt Gray, of Batavia, owner of Eli Fish Brewing Co., to the Board of Directors of the Genesee County Economic Development Center effective July 1, 2021 through June 30, 2027.
All of the Ways & Means Committee action will be forwarded to the full county legislature at its May 12 meeting.
