Denver deputy sheriffs will receive a 14 percent pay raise over the next three years, an arbitrator has ruled.
The arbitrator’s decision Monday ends an impasse between the union representing the deputies and the administration of Mayor John Hickenlooper. Deputies will get increases of 5 percent this year, 4.5 percent next year and 4.5 percent in 2010.
The city had made a final offer closer to 3 percent increases in each of those years, with higher raises offered to deputies in higher pay grades in the first year of the contract.
In his findings, arbitrator John DiFalco said that the difference between the city’s final offer and the offer he accepted from the union amounts to $1.5 million over the three years.
DiFalco said the union proved that Denver deputies were paid less than those in nearby suburbs. He added that even with the salary increases, the pay of Denver’s deputies will be, at best, closer to the median of nine other surveyed Colorado jurisdictions.
