Beaver County's flirtation with private jail management is over.

The county commissioners yesterday announced that they had accepted a contract offer from the county jail guards, which will run through the end of 2010 and sideline a deal the commissioners made with the Massachusetts prison management firm CiviGenics Inc.

The guards will pay 1 percent of their base pay toward health care, give up some vacation, holiday and sick time, go without raises for this year and the next two and agreed to more management-friendly work rules in a deal the commissioners say will save $600,000 a year.

That's quite a bit less than the $1.9 million a year CiviGenics had promised to save, but an unfavorable legal ruling Friday had dimmed the prospects for the private deal. The commissioners opted to settle rather than spend another year or more in court, with no guarantee of victory and no guarantee the contract would stay on the table that long.

"It's not everything we expected," Commissioners Chairman Dan Donatella said of the settlement. "But it's not what they expected either. It truly came down to both sides giving up something."

The guards have worked without a contract since Jan. 1, with the commissioners demanding enough concessions to match the offer CiviGenics made in the summer of 2005. An arbitration panel forged a compromise in June, but the county rejected it, saying it would force a tax increase or taking on debt.

County President Judge Robert E. Kunselman ruled Friday that the county had to abide by the arbitration decision. The county could have appealed, but had already spent at least $500,000 on legal fees, Mr. Donatella said.

"Judge Kunselman's order really was the death warrant for privatization," said Charles Camp, the lone Republican commissioner. "The taxpayers can thank him for the tax increase that is now looming."

The guards' deal is the same one they agreed to Oct. 22 as the two sides made a last-ditch effort to stay out of Judge Kunselman's courtroom. At the time, the commissioners said they could only accept it if five other county bargaining units signed similar new contracts.

Those workers have been without contracts for almost two years, unwilling to make concessions. In an emergency meeting last week, they rejected the contracts proposed to them by a 238-14 vote.

Given the judge's decision, though, the commissioners decided to accept the deal with the guards and turn their attention to negotiating with the other units. All the bargaining units are part of Local 668 of the Service Employees International Union.

"We do have a commitment from the SEIU to work more closely with us toward deals with the five other units," county negotiator John McCleary said.

The county owes CiviGenics, which had been training personnel for a Monday takeover, at least $125,000 for its trouble. It could be more; Mr. Donatella said the company is adding up what it spent and "we want to be fair."