Suffolk sheriffs deputies want payment of $4 million in wage concessions

The administration of Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone has told the Suffolk deputy sheriffs union that it "has no intention" of paying back $4 million in wage concessions due at year's end because of the unsettled legal battle over patrols on county highways.

John Becker, the deputies' union president, appeared before county lawmakers Tuesday. He disclosed that county labor relations director Jennifer McNamara told him in a phone call Monday night that the county was withholding payment because of the legal dispute.

Vanessa Baird-Streeter, a Bellone spokeswoman, said the money would not be paid because an appeal is pending.

Becker, Sheriff Vincent DeMarco and nearly 50 union members in black union T-shirts appeared at the county legislature meeting Tuesday to protest the delay in resolving the highway dispute and reaching a new contract with the 250 deputies. Come January, the union will have been without a contract for a record six years.

The money is owed because former County Executive Steve Levy, just before leaving office, guaranteed sheriffs deputies the right to patrol the Long Island Expressway and Sunrise Highway through 2017 in return for deferring $4 million of $8 million in retroactive pay raises until the end of 2015. In 2012, Bellone gave the Suffolk Police Benevolent Association a new contract that returned highway work to police.

A state Supreme Court justice has upheld the deputies' pact with Levy, but the county has appealed, claiming the legislature never ratified the pact. State Supreme Court Justice Peter Mayer said the agreement was legal because the county used the wage savings in the 2012 and 2013 budgets.

Union officials say deputies in effect have made the county an interest-free loan that has cost individual members between $15,000 to $30,000.

"The county executive should be ashamed to treat people who put their lives on the line . . . in such a disrespectful and appalling manner," Becker said.

Becker said the union also has claims of unfair labor practices with the state Public Employment Relations Board. The union claims the county is trying to force the union to settle both a new contract and the highway pay dispute together. The county has refused to provide data about the cost of the police contract for comparison purposes.

DeMarco also criticized Bellone. DeMarco noted that formal talks have been going on since May, and said he has a proposal that both sides could back "that won't break the bank." He complained that for months, there have been nothing but "sidebar sessions" to which he has not been invited.

DeMarco's top aide, Michael Sharkey, said there is no reason for the county delay paying back the $4 million. "If the contract is valid, they owe the money," said Shakey. "And if the agreement is not valid, they still owe the money so the litigation argument does not hold water."