AUBURN —  New details have surfaced in the two-year stalemate between Androscoggin County officials and the Sheriff’s Department union. Just-released documents show two sides that are surprisingly close. Both have made concessions. But they have dug in, particularly on the issue of health care.

The three-member County Commission asked the union — whose members include patrol deputies, dispatchers and jail guards —  to give up a benefit that paid for health insurance upon retirement.

The union agreed, according to the six-page fact-finding report. And the commission agreed to grandfather workers already employed.

However, when commissioners wanted to cut off people hired since Jan. 1, 2009, when the current contract expired, the union balked. Those people are also covered by the earlier agreement and should have the chance to earn that benefit, the union argued.

“We’ve given up as much as we can, offering that benefit from the sign date forward,” said Sgt. Eric Samson, a member of the union’s leadership team.

“I really don’t understand why we’re here,” he said.

Fact-finding was meant to be a last-ditch effort at crafting an agreement between the county and the labor union. Since the contract’s expiration almost two years ago, the sides have met many times. Mediation began earlier this year.

A fact-finding hearing was held Oct. 27 where both sides presented information to an impartial, three-person panel.

Shari Broder, Patricia Dunn and William Murphy issued their report with several recommendations. They recommended a compromise for current employees’ health insurance: Employees pay a flat 15 percent of the premiums. They also recommended annual pay hikes of 1.5 percent to 2 percent over four years.

But the retiree health issue has been the big one, responsible for three failures when contract proposals went to the union membership for votes.

In its report, the fact-finders sided with the union and its roughly 70 members.

“The panel considers the union’s concessions to be an important step towards resolving this contract dispute,” the panel wrote. “Although this proposal may have been on the table at the time 17 new employees were hired, the panel recommends covering these employees with this benefit. Given the criteria for eligibility and the rate of turnover, it is unclear whether doing this will result in any increased costs for the county.”

Commission Chairman Randall Greenwood declined to comment on the report, saying he was following the advice of counsel and withholding comment until Wednesday.

Samson said he felt the union’s actions were “validated” by the report.

Expired or not, as long as a contract is in effect, the people hired under that contract will get the benefits they are promised, he said.

“We came to work under this agreement,” Samson said. “We expect it to be honored.”

And with health care benefits being discussed throughout the county building — including in a pending court case — the membership aimed to be careful, he said.

It’s uncertain where the negotiations will go from here. The next logical step would be arbitration, said Marc Ayotte, the executive director of the Maine Labor Relations Board.

It would be a rare step, he said. The arbitrator’s decisions on the contract would be binding except on the big-money issues: pay, insurance and pensions.

Then, the sides would have a “reasonable” amount of time to settle, Ayotte said.

Can it go on another two years?

“Probably not,” he said.

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