Staff Report
INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — Indian River County Sheriff’s deputies will be receiving a $1,582.86 year-end bonus — before taxes and deductions — after the Board of County Commissioners unanimously voted Monday in favor of the Sheriff’s Office’s recommendation.
Deputies who are part of the collective bargaining agreement can expect to see a check for about $1,000 after deductions. The meeting, which lasted 30 minutes, was a continuation of the impasse hearing between Sheriff Deryl Loar and the union pertaining to shift changes last week. The marathon meeting on the shift changes last Thursday ended with commissioners split on the issue of whether to change deputies’ work schedules. In the end, they voted 3-2 in support of the sheriff’s proposal.
By the end of the meeting, however, the issue of raises had not been resolved, prompting the special meeting Monday.
A representative of the union for the deputies told commissioners that, though they were not happy with the changes to the work schedule, they were happy with the bonuses.
He wanted to be sure, though, that the Sheriff’s Office would label the bonuses as such in order to keep the money from being subject to the a State of Florida retirement deduction.
Jim Harpring, the sheriff’s legal counsel, told the commission that the bonuses would be listed as a one-time lump sum payment, which would not have the retirement deduction.