SAN MARCOS -- Campus leaders at Palomar College reached a tentative agreement Wednesday that officials said will provide faculty members with long-awaited raises and wrap up a year and a half of contentious labor negotiations.

According to the terms reached by negotiators, instructors will receive lump sum payments equal to 1.58 percent of their 2006-07 salaries, in addition to a 4.53 percent cost-of-living increase for the current school year.

The three-year contract, which is retroactive to July 2006, also includes a clause promising instructors 40 percent of any money that the college gets from the state for increased enrollment this year, and another 40 percent share of any such "growth revenue" next year.

Those figures must still be approved by the 1,100 members of the Palomar Faculty Federation, said the federation's co-president, Shannon Lienhart.

"We're very, very happy," Lienhart said following Wednesday's meeting. "We believe that we might be able to get this ratified and to the board within two weeks or so."

The district's negotiator, the vice president of human resources, John Tortarolo, called the tentative arrangement "a good agreement for both parties."

"We've spent a long time negotiating, and we had a lot to negotiate," he added.

If the instructors vote for the agreement, then the district's governing board will have to finalize it, officials said.

Another part of the agreement forged Wednesday calls for $300,000 to boost the pay schedules for entry-level professors as well as those who hold Ph.D.s, Lienhart said.

She said those who are the most educated as well as the least experienced are being paid less than their counterparts at other colleges, making it difficult to attract candidates when jobs open.

"What it means is that we'll be able to attract more (applicants) when we hire faculty," said Lienhart. "It's been difficult to attract really large pools of applicants for our positions, because our starting wages were very low."

Perhaps the most significant part of the agreement was the "growth revenue" clause that entitles teachers to approximately 40 percent of any money that the school receives for rising enrollment this year and next.

Using a complex formula, Lienhart estimated that a 1 percent increase in growth could result in about $360,000 worth of additional raises, which would be distributed among the 1,100 instructors.

Last month, college officials said spring enrollment reached a new high of 32,259 students taking at least one class, up from the previous record of 31,885 in fall 2006.

Herman Lee, director of enrollment services, said in March that those figures included 25,859 students enrolled in traditional college courses and 6,400 students taking free, community-based noncredit classes.

Wednesday's meeting came after nearly 18 months of negotiations, during which offers and counteroffers fell by the wayside and accusations of stalling were leveled.

In February, the teachers union filed a complaint with the Public Employment Relations Board, accusing the college district of using stall tactics, reneging on previous agreements and providing false financial projections, among other things.

While the complaint has not been resolved, officials said tensions eased considerably when a verbal agreement on the faculty contract issue was reached in early March.

College spokesman Mark Oggel said the governing board may hold a special meeting to approve the agreement once the faculty federation has ratified it, meaning that the new contract could be formally approved within two or three weeks.

Contact staff writer Tom Pfingsten at (760) 740-3516 or tpfingsten@nctimes.com. Comment at nctimes.com.