The union representing Denver sheriff’s deputies has reached a tentative agreement with Mayor John Hickenlooper to delay negotiated pay increases of 4.5 percent scheduled for next year.
The move would save the city $2.5 million next year.
The union’s membership will vote on the move next week. Deputies will receive their pay raise in December 2010 instead of January if the agreement is ratified.
In exchange, the mayor agreed to extend the contract for the deputies an extra two years, giving them 3 percent raises in 2011 and 2012.
Deputies also would not be fired as some were earlier this year when they refused to give up their raises.
A first-year deputy currently is paid $44,070 annually. The top pay scale for a deputy is $61,411 annually.
Details of the agreement were described by an individual familiar with the negotiations who asked for anonymity.
The deferral of deputy salaries is one of a series of budget cuts the mayor is using to close a $160 million budget deficit in the city’s general fund from July of this year through all of next year.
Police officers and firefighters already have agreed to defer their negotiated pay raises.
The general fund is projected to spend $855 million next year.
Christopher N. Osher: 303-954-1747 or cosher@denverpost.com
