1,049 employees, $155 million. In Pierce County, it's the season of dotted lines and fine print

The debates are quiet, but the numbers are loud.

Over the next several weeks, Pierce County Council members will continue to walk through a semiannual ritual, saying little but voting unanimously to spend more than $155 million over the next two years.

The money is tied to 14 collective bargaining agreements and approximately 1,049 public-service jobs. The duties range from road maintenance worker to home appraiser, from court clerk to automotive mechanic.

The two-year contracts, a fact of life in government budgeting and a major duty for County Executive Bruce Dammeier, started moving through the council pipeline in April. More contract ratifications are scheduled in upcoming meetings — five on June 26 alone.

The votes aren’t contentious. By the time the contracts reach the council, negotiations have already taken place, with terms settled in earlier negotiations with the county’s Human Resources Department.

Those terms — including a 1.8-percent salary increase in 2018 and a 2.5-percent bump in 2019 — are the same across the board for the 14 contracts. Translated to dollars, that means $76.6 million this year and $78.6 million next year.

A council hearing and vote on June 12 offered a typical example of the process. The contract on the table covered Teamsters Local 117, a group of 200 employees working for the county assessor, medical examiner and other departments.

Collectively, the unit’s salaries amounted to $13.3 million under the old 2016-2017 contract. The new two-year agreement includes the 2018 salary increase and the additional bump in 2019. New total: $14.09 million.

The hearing included a brief presentation from Joe Carillo, deputy director of Human Resources. Council members asked no questions. Council Chairman Doug Richardson offered the only public comment before a unanimous vote to approve the contract.

“We didn’t just get here yesterday,” he said. “This has been a process over a period of time — in which the council is kept apprised of negotiations and are then required to ratify.”

Richardson made a similar statement on June 5, as council members considered a two-year contract with Local 120, a 55-employee unit in the county’s wastewater management division, and Local 483, a group of seven traffic signal technicians.

“These are final agreements reached with various groups of employees over time,” Richardson said. “This has been going on for some time.”

While the council has 14 contracts locked down, seven remain to settle. They involve 787 employees, including the county Sheriff’s Independent Guild and and the Corrections Guild, which covers deputies who staff the jail.

“We hope to have all of the contracts settled by the end of the summer,” said Libby Catalinich, spokeswoman for Dammeier’s office.

This story was originally published June 18, 2018 at 4:46 PM with the headline "1,049 employees, $155 million. In Pierce County, it's the season of dotted lines and fine print."