County, Sheriff’s Employees Association approve new 3-year contract

ALBION – Orleans County and about 50 people in the Sheriff’s Employees Association have approved a new three-year contract with raises from 2027 to 2029.

The union represents employees in the Sheriff’s Office who are not deputies, including 32 corrections officers, about a dozen public safety dispatchers and four clerical staff.

The current contract with the OC Sheriff’s Employees Association was ratified in 2022 and expires in December. The County Legislature today approved the contract following a vote last week by the union membership.

This was the third and final contract settled with county unions this year, following successful negotiations with the Deputy Sheriff’s Association and CSEA.

“The Legislature is very happy to conclude our third contract negotiation this year and we commend OCSEA for working collaboratively to reach a deal that is good for their members and fair to taxpayers,” said Jack Welch, the county chief administrative officer.  “As with our previous contracts, both sides used a list of 13 comparable counties from across the state as a barometer for negotiations which helped move things along.”

When looking at those comparable numbers from the 13 similar-size counties, Orleans County was paying clerical staff, correction officers and dispatchers less than the median of the 13 counties, Welch said.

To address this, in 2027 the county compressed the 2026 salary schedule down to four steps. That move created approximately a 4 percent increase for the clerical staff, an 8 percent increase for the correctional officers and a 6 percent increase for the dispatchers in each step.

The county also agreed to 2.5 percent increase every six months beginning January 2028.

“The contract structure will bring Orleans County to the median wages of the comparable counties in a way that is manageable with our budget constraints,” Welch said.