Three-tenths sales tax results in numerical brouhaha

YAKIMA, Wash. -- On this point there is no dispute: A promise that a sales tax increase would mean more sheriff's deputies has not been kept.

It's the kind of thing that drives taxpayers mad.

But how and why it happened is a matter of dispute between Sheriff Ken Irwin and his deputies' union. The issue was fodder much of last week on local television and radio and has been used by candidates challenging Irwin's re-election bid.

At issue is a three-tenths-of-a-cent
criminal justice sales tax initially approved by voters in 2004 and approved again last year. In promoting the tax in 2004, Irwin said it would pay for 14 new road deputies.

But six years and $7.4 million later, there are fewer deputies in the department.

The deputies argue the county has improperly replaced basic financial support with the sales tax to pay for existing positions. That, they contend, violates state law, a stance county officials firmly reject.

Deputies complained to the state Auditor's Office in 2008. They've not yet received an answer, but the Auditor's Office said one could be coming shortly.

County officials say they have used the money as intended, maintaining a separate pot of three-tenths money that the law and justice departments share under a formula created when the tax was approved.

Commission Chairman Mike Leita said commissioners have kept the sheriff's general budget above where it was when the tax was passed.

The county's position would appear to be buttressed by an informal 2005 opinion from the state Attorney General's office.

In it, a deputy solicitor general wrote the law that permitted counties to seek the sales tax hike allows that the money "may be used only to increase the funding of county departments and programs above the level at which they were funded when the voters approved the imposition of the tax."

Commissioners say they've done that. Not including revenue from the sales tax, the sheriff's budget increased from $8.4 million in 2004 to $8.7 million this year.

County officials say the standard is measured by the amount of money, not by the number of personnel.

Commissioners say rising costs have made it impossible to hire more deputies. Among those costs: 5 percent annual pay increases for deputies since 2007, and a recession-induced loss in sales tax receipts and other general revenues that have forced cuts in the county budget.

The result is that wages and benefits have risen 31.5 percent since 2004, while Irwin's budget, including the general fund and sales tax fund, grew just 19.3 percent.

"If (Irwin) made one mistake in the three-tenths," observed county Commissioner Mike Leita, "it's that he gave a specific number of new officers. He never realized the amount of cost increases he would incur nor did he realize the revenues would be going down."

Irwin now admits he should have warned that an economic downturn could affect his plans. The sheriff's office will receive $1.2 million of the estimated $4.6 million of the county's total share of the three-tenths tax this year -- the rest goes to courts, jails and other criminal justice programs under a formula agreed to years ago. (Other three-tenths sales tax money is distributed to police departments across the Yakima Valley.)

"We thought we were OK," Irwin said. "Everyone at the table projected conservatively about where the revenue will be and how we would keep up with it. It hasn't been there."

In campaigning for the tax in fall 2004, Irwin said he would add eight more road deputies, a three-member quick-strike team for emergent crimes, two deputies to tackle identity theft and domestic violence, and a lieutenant.

Today, Irwin has the same number of road deputies and detectives he had in 2004 before voters approved the sales tax.

There are a total of 60 commissioned officers now compared with 63 in 2004. The number of commissioned officers peaked in 2007 and 2008 at 68. Thirteen deputies are now financed by the sales tax.

Jim Cline, a Seattle attorney who represents the deputies union, the Yakima County Law Enforcement Officers Guild, said the funding issue is complex.

The political issue, he said, is that the promise hasn't been kept.

"There is no question in my mind that what the voters thought they were going to get is not what they got. We can show numbers on that. The guild is not taking sides in this race. We have not endorsed the sheriff or his challenger," Cline said. "The guild's dog in this is the office should be properly staffed. We aren't happy with the sheriff for his failed leadership."

Cline said the charge of failed leadership stems from an attempt in 2008 by the guild to explain to Irwin its position on "supplanting" -- an arcane legislative term that essentially means those tax dollars in place when the tax went into effect can't be replaced by three-tenths money.

Cline said deputies tried to provide Irwin the ammunition to argue for more money for his department.

"He hasn't taken the actions he should have. He should have been complaining loudly to county commissioners about this," Cline said.

The debate has since spilled into Irwin's bid for re-election to the post he has held since 2001.

Challenger Kelly Rosenow, former Yakima city deputy police chief, echoes the guild in arguing that Irwin hasn't fought hard enough to fund his department.

The discord reached such a point last week that Leita took the rare step of endorsing Irwin.

"I can think of no man more passionate for his community and more well-founded in his beliefs," said Leita, who admitted Irwin and commissioners have butted heads over his budget. "He has been a strong advocate for helping his officers become better officers, not only financially but in their profession as well."

Insiders say Irwin battled hard for more money for his department, sometimes to the detriment of his relationships with the heads of other law and justice departments.

Deputies certainly are better off financially than they were in 2004. All of that goes back to a four-year contract commissioners agreed to that gave deputies 5 percent raises annually from 2007 through this year.

Yakima County deputies are now the sixth-highest paid in the state, according to salary data compiled by the Association of Washington Cities.

County deputies received a 2 percent boost July 1, increasing the top monthly pay to $5,620, or $67,440 annually.

Those figures don't include longevity pay -- a pay boost for each five years of employment -- and other premiums. When those figures are factored in, along with overtime, average pay for a county deputy sheriff is $70,770 per year, according to data obtained from the county's Human Services Department. By comparison, the top base pay for a Yakima police officer is $73,056 per year.

The state's highest paid deputies are in King County, at $76,548 per year in base pay at the top of the pay scale. Following behind are Thurston, Pierce, Kitsap and Franklin counties.

Cline said the four-year contract placed Yakima County deputies more on a par with deputies in comparable counties.

Leita said commissioners ultimately agreed to the contract on the eve of arbitration after almost two years of bargaining and mediation.

Law enforcement officials have the ability to pursue binding arbitration because they are forbidden to strike.

Arbitrators, under state law, place great weight on what comparable counties pay. At that time, with the state economy not yet feeling the full brunt of the recession, comparable counties were agreeing to higher wage proposals. That increased the likelihood that an arbitrator would dictate larger increases.

Leita said Human Resources Director Linda Dixon, Irwin and labor attorney Tony Menke of Yakima advised them to accept an agreement because of the uncertainties of what an arbitrator might impose and the costs of paying an attorney through an arbitration proceeding. He estimated the county already had spent $200,000 in staff and attorney costs through the drawn-out bargaining.

"Based on their recommendation, we evaluated the benefit versus the risk and decided it was time to put this behind us," he said.

The contract also gave deputies a medical care plan that's the envy of other county employees. Under it, the county pays 90 percent of the premium for those deputies covering themselves and a family, an annual outlay of $16,481.

The county pays 48 percent toward the annual medical insurance premium of $8,400 for all other county employees who cover their families.

Leita said commissioners told Irwin the deputies' agreement was not sustainable with existing revenues and existing staffing.

"There was a likelihood that increase could not be supported ... and how he chose to manage his department would be his decision," Leita said.

The two sides are preparing to bargain a new contract that takes effect Jan. 1.