Representing 265 men and women in Suffolk law enforcement, the Deputy Sheriff’s PBA has a new president, 13-year department veteran Thomas Bivona. The union, headquartered in Ronkonkoma, supports a vibrant workforce in its mission to keep Suffolk safe.
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The 1996 William Floyd graduate stayed close to home studying accounting and computer information systems at Suffolk Community College and Stony Brook University. He worked at Brookhaven Town’s Calabro Airport and the Parks Department before joining the Deputy Sheriffs.
A key issue for the new Police Benevolent Association president is decreasing the pay disparity between the deputies and Suffolk Police officers, who are part of a much larger force and have more influence when it comes to contract negotiations. The difference in starting salary between the two departments is $10,000, with new deputies earning $33,000. The top base pay for the police is $158,000 after 11.5 years, while it’s only $102,000 for deputies after 12, Bivona notes, adding, “For the first time ever, we’re losing people to the New York City Police. They’ve always come over to us; This is unheard of. The fact is, the deputies were not treated fairly by the previous administration.”
Another item on the list of changes Bivona is working toward is the way department overtime is calculated, with deputies hired since 2006 losing additional pay if they take leave during a pay period, a restriction that came about through arbitration, which is not imposed on the county police. He’s also looking to reduce the amount of time, currently 12 years, it takes a deputy to get to the top pay grade, another disparity he said reduces the department’s ability to recruit and retain new members.
With the current contract for the deputies expiring at the end of the year, the union will be at the negotiating table not just with the sheriff but also with the county executive. “It’s a three-way discussion, which obviously makes it more difficult because now you need all three parties having to agree,” Bivona said, adding that a preliminary contract would then go to the membership for ratification. Another item that will surely come up at the bargaining table is the use of body cameras, an issue that’s already been settled with the police, who earn an additional $3,000 per year for wearing them.
Bivona, along with many of his colleagues in law enforcement, is actively lobbying for changes to the state’s cashless bail law, legislation that has made the state less safe, he argues, and the job more difficult for the deputies.
A resident of Manorville, the union president is a family man with a son currently enrolled at SUNY Binghamton and a daughter at Eastport-South Manor Junior High School. He and his wife, Janice, are both William Floyd alumni.