A battle is brewing between veteran public safety workers who say they are entitled to raises and Fairfax County leaders poised again to kill all pay increases while the county labors through budget pains.
Marshall Thielen, president of the Fairfax Coalition of Police, said hundreds of police officers, firefighters and sheriff’s deputies have been stiffed money — and will be slighted again under the budget proposed by County Executive Anthony Griffin.
For the second straight year, Griffin suggested a freeze in employee salaries, part of a push to taper layoffs and meet a $257 million budget shortfall. But the county’s personnel regulations call for pay raises after both 15 and 20 years of service from public safety workers.
Thielen contends the county is ignoring promises in the name of saving what amounts to hundreds of thousands of dollars from a $3.3 billion general fund budget — and to save face with other county workers facing another year without pay raises.
“They are inviting us to sue, make us look like the bad guys,” Thielen said Thursday, adding the county was “sucking the blood” from those with the most dangerous jobs on the payroll.
Declaring he “absolutely” will bring a lawsuit against the county in coming weeks, Thielen said nearly two dozen public safety officials have volunteered as plaintiffs.
County supervisors discussed the longevity payouts during closed session last year, ultimately deciding not to honor the regulation or change its wording.
Fairfax County Human Resources Director Susan Woodruff said the regulation remains on the books because “funding decisions supersede the language [of the regulation].”
Some supervisors say giving public safety employees pay raises would send the wrong message to rest of the county’s work force.
“We felt it would be unfair to select one particular group and one rationale for giving salary raises,” said Supervisor John Foust, D-Dranesville. “This is an across-the-board freeze. The right thing to do is to enforce it.”
