The Will County Board Thursday approved a retroactive 3.73 percent pay raise for sheriff’s deputies who are in the last year of a three-year contract.
“We think this was settled fairly for employees and equitably for taxpayers,”said Deputy Sheriff Richard Rodeghero, president of Local 2961 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.
Under terms of the agreement, two of the 11 salary steps were eliminated, allowing deputies to move up the pay scale faster.
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The county and the union had been negotiating since the issue of wages was reopened in October. The current salary schedule will stay in effect until the end of the current pact on Nov. 30.
In other action, the County Board also agreed to give $85,000 to a suspended deputy sheriff who was acquitted of illegal gun sales. Keith Kostelny, a 20-year veteran of the department, was suspended in 1991 after being charged with selling weapons illegally. Last August, a U.S. District Court judge acquitted Kostelny, saying that prosecutors had not proved their case.