Accountability Initiative

We are collecting signatures on an initiative to the people for the November 2026 election to:

  • Protect Public Safety: This measure protects public safety by restating competitive wage standards for non-elected sworn peace officers, in other words Deputy Sheriffs, attracting and keeping qualified law enforcement officers to protect El Dorado County residents and keep the peace.

  • Protect Taxpayers: This measure protects taxpayers by prohibiting elected officials, county executives, and administrative officials from enriching themselves by misusing the Deputy Sheriff's wage standards, costing taxpayers millions of dollars in future expenditures. 

  • Protect The Will Of The Voters: This measure reinstates the will of the voters. In 1995 the voters of El Dorado County approved, by nearly 70% of the vote, an amendment to the county charter intended to keep sworn peace officers’ wages competitive and aligned with comparable jurisdictions. Even though that measure, known as Section 504, was intended for just sworn peace officers’, the El Dorado County Board of Supervisors is now applying Section 504 to automatically raise wages for elected officials, lawyers, and highly paid administrators by an average of $15 an hour, or $31,000 a year each.

  • Protect El Dorado County’s Quality of Life: This measure ensures our taxpayer dollars go to  the voters’ highest priorities. The El Dorado County Board of Supervisors has slashed vital community services – snowplowing, park programs, senior day care services, juvenile treatment centers, the Aquatic Center and more. Meanwhile, they are rubber-stamping hundreds of thousands of dollars of pay raises, diverting taxpayer dollars from public services and into the bank accounts of a handful of highly paid officials by misusing Section 504 of the County Charter.

What is Section 504 of the County Charter?

El Dorado County Charter Section 504 was amended by nearly 70 percent of voters on November 7, 1995, and became effective on January 26, 1996. The Charter included six employee classifications in the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office:

  • Undersheriff

  • Captain

  • Lieutenant

  • Sergeant

  • Deputy Sheriff

  • Clerk (no longer exists)

Section 504 was intended to ensure sworn peace officers in El Dorado County received competitive wages. It requires the County each year to determine an average of salaries between South Lake Tahoe Police Department, Amador County Sheriff’s Department, and California Highway Patrol.  On January 1 each year the salaries are adjusted to increase and match the average salary based on this comparison.

The problem now is that this Board of Supervisors has suddenly decided to add elected officials and non-peace officers (highly paid administrative staff) to this list, and grant them automatic raises based on the average salary comparison for sworn peace officers.

The County says they can’t afford to pay non-peace officer rank-and-file employees median wages. However, they are apparently willing to make exceptions and grant a small group of already well-paid executives AUTOMATIC PAY INCREASES that are NOT EVEN BASED ON THEIR OWN MEDIAN WAGES.

Since the Charter was amended, the County has created new sworn peace officer classifications in the District Attorney’s office that should rightfully be included in the increases. However, the Charter citizens overwhelmingly voted for and supported was not intended to increase the salaries of elected and high paid County officials, including:

  • Alternate Public Defender

  • Chief Administrative Officer

  • Chief Probation Officer

  • County Counsel

  • District Attorney

  • Public Defender

  • Sheriff

It’s time to stop this TAXPAYER ABUSE and make sure the Board rescinds any future automatic increases for this small group of highly paid County executives.

Let’s unite to KEEP THE 504 CHARTER AS IT WAS INTENDED!!! Sign up to collect signatures on this initiative to the people now!