A major focus of your Orange County Board of Supervisors in 2012 will be labor negotiations.

Several employee contracts are up for renegotiation, and it will be the responsibility of the Board to ensure taxpayers’ interests are successfully represented at the bargaining table. We need to take the opportunity of the 2012 negotiations to explore options for slowing the rapidly rising cost of government.

Employees should be compensated fairly; however, the compensation must live within means of what the County treasury can afford both in the short-term and long-term. In the final months of 2011, the Board took several actions to signal our intentions for 2012 labor relations including initiating reforms that will prevent mistakes that have made in past negotiations.

One such step forward for taxpayers was the Board’s action to reject proposed changes in the Orange County Managers Association (OCMA) 2011-2012 contract.

If approved as presented, the OCMA contract, which contained a "Pay for Performance" award program, would have significantly raised the salary range and long-term pension costs for managers. The accelerated increase in base salaries, a byproduct of the Pay for Performance program, threatens the fiscal solvency of our pension plans and impacts the overall cost of government.

Similarly, in December the Board also rejected a proposal that would have increased salary ranges for Law Enforcement Managers (OCLEM). Unfortunately, media reports did not accurately reflect the Board’s bold efforts to reign in salary costs. Newspaper accounts said the Board approved retroactive raises for members of OCMA prior to publicly voting down the contract.

That assertion is simply inaccurate. The fact is those "raises," or more accurately "performance awards", were approved in compliance with a previously negotiated contract that County was legally bound to uphold. In moving forward with a new contract, the Board intends to work with OCMA to reach an agreement that is fair to the County’s managers and awards exceptional performance yet does not significantly increase pay ranges and associated pension benefits.

In a related reform, the Board continues to move forward in hiring a third party private firm to negotiate our labor contracts.

Previously, this task was handled by in-house County employees. The Board decided, however, an independent third party could offer a stronger advocate for taxpayers at the bargaining table.

Providing the needed skill and expertise, a private firm can also determine the short-term and long-term impacts of every major contract component discussed at the bargaining table in an unbiased fashion.

An additional gain for taxpayers was a recent Performance Audit, commissioned by the Board, which identified over $150 million in savings that can be achieved through contract negotiations. The Board has agreed to meet and discuss this list of recommended savings and develop a strategy for making them a reality.

Balancing savings for the taxpayers with salaries that reward performance and also retain a superior workforce will continue to be a priority for me throughout my term. Nowhere is the opportunity for savings greater than in our labor contracts.

I value the work our public employees do and the services they provide; and I know Orange County is fortunate to have very competent and diligent public servants.

However, the current path is unsustainable. Reversing the trend is a challenge all local officials must take on and one that your Board of Supervisors is ready to meet.