Patricia R. Doxsey is reporting the Daily Freeman Ulster County Executive Pat Ryan and the union that represents corrections officers and civilian employees at the county Sheriff’s Office have reached an agreement that would give employees a pay increase over the next five years. The pact between the county and the Ulster County Sheriff’s Employees Association now goes to the county Legislature for approval. If okayed by the Laws and Rules and Ways and Means committees, it will go to the full Legislature on November 16. “I am proud that we have reached this agreement with UCSEA, one of the largest labor unions in county government,” Ryan said in a statement, November 12. “This new contract recognizes the hard work of our employees, especially given the challenges that they have faced since the outbreak of COVID-19...” As proposed, the contract would run from Jan. 1, 2020, to Dec. 31, 2024. Employees would receive a 3.5 percent increase in base salary retroactive to Dec. 31, 2020, and April 1, 2021; plus a 2 percent increase in base salary and more, annually from 2022, to 2024. The settlement package will cost county taxpayers $2.12 million over the five-year agreement. The Ulster County Sheriff’s Employees Association is the second-largest employee union in the county, second only to the Civil Service Employees Association, or CSEA. Read the full story in the Daily Freeman.