The largest labor union in the state’s smallest county will enter the new year without a binding contract unless 11th-hour negotiations unlock a stalemate at the bargaining table of San Juan County.

Employees represented by Local 1849 rejected the county bargaining team’s three-year contract offer sometime over the weekend of Dec. 6-7, according to a Dec. 8 county press release. Labor union and county officials did not return messages seeking comment Monday about the contract and negotiations.

Rejection of a new three-year contract comes on the eve of the anticipated approval of a 2015 budget by the County Council. The contract offer reportedly includes cost-of-living and wage increases, as well as contributions to a health care savings account and adjustments to management of the proposed three-year contract. The council was expected to approve a 2015 county budget Tuesday, Dec. 9.

According to the press release, the county will cease providing cost-of-living adjustments and benefit contributions called for in the current labor contract unless a new contract is signed. The current labor contract expires Dec. 31.

Local 1849 represents 136 county employees, while the Sheriff’s Guild, a separate labor union, represents roughly 29. The county also employees about 20 “seasonal” workers whose positions are not represented by the union. Roughly 50 county positions, including 11 elected officials, are designated as managers or supervisors, or so-called “confidential” or “professional,” and are unrepresented by the union and a labor contract as well.

The press release circulated by the county did not indicate whether the tentative 2015 budget affords pay raises or health care contributions for non-represented employees.

Union officials and county management, assisted by a facilitator from the state’s Public Employment Relations Commission, reportedly began negotiations on a new contract in August.

The contract dispute follows an earlier stalemate over pay and labor at San Juan Island School District. Under the shadow of a pending walk-out on the eve of the first day of class, district and the schools’ teacher’s union, which represents about 53 faculty members, hammered out a new 2-year contract to avoid a strike.

The new contract calls for a 5 percent pay raise, as well as modifications to teacher workload, over the duration of the two-year contract. The pay raise helps to offset increased costs and payments for medical expenses provided to faculty members under the contract, according to union officials.