County Commissioners meeting with the Association board

Membership;
As you are already aware, the County Commissioners request a meeting with the Association board to discuss salary concessions for FY 2011 back in May. The County is claiming that they are going to have another short fall in the budget. The Association notified the County that it would meet with them but only after the board did its due diligence and researched the county’s finances.
The Association was finally ready and met with the County on July 14, 2010. The County’s committee was made up Comm. Anna Perez, County Auditor Ed Dion, County HR Betsy Keller and County Attorney Holley Lyghtl. The Association Board and Ron Delord from CLEAT represented the Association. Comm. Perez formally requested that the members of the Association give up our COLA’s and step increase for FY 2011 and the money the County still owes the membership in October 2010.
The Association reminded the County that we had met our obligations by giving up our COLA’s for FY 2010 and now we want them to meet their obligation. The County had no counter proposal on why we should again give up our COLA’s, but insisted we do so because we are public servants. The County’s position is that they are in a deficit crunch and they need help with their budget. The Association disagrees with the County’s position and had an independent source research and analyze the County’s financial status and report back to us.
The Association’s report shows that the County’s problems are not significant enough to warrant its membership giving up another set of COLA’s for FY 2011. The County wants the Association membership to give up about $4.5 million in October, in return for non-monetary items in the contract. The Association told the County that their request was unreasonable and should fulfill their previous agreement before any other request by them is to be considered by the Association.
The Association Board has not agreed to any request the County has made and can not do so with prior approval from the MEMBERSHIP!!!
If any member has a question or concerns please feel free to contact me or any board member for additional information.