SAN DIEGO -- About 500 people who provide home health care for the disabled and elderly rallied Tuesday at the County Administration Building for higher wages.

About 22,000 people are paid $9.25 per hour by the county of San Diego to provide health care services at the homes of clients. The workers are considered independent contractors and are not included in the county workforce of about 17,000.

The United Domestic Workers of America seeks a pay boost of $1.50 per hour spread over three years.

UDW President Laura Reyes said that the county's final offer was a raise of 44 cents -- total, not hourly -- over three years. "There's state and federal funds set aside for these moneys," said Reyes, who cares for her 17-year-old son, a victim of cerebral palsy. "(The county is) reimbursed for every penny they pay out."

After negotiating for nine months, the two sides had a mediation session Monday that ended when the county refused to raise its offer, Reyes said. County officials do not publicly discuss ongoing labor negotiations, said Luis Monteagudo Jr., a spokesman for Board of Supervisors Chairman Greg Cox.

Holding the line on pay raises to home health care workers was "a false economy for the county," because many of their clients would otherwise become institutionalized at much higher cost, said John Stevenson, a former chairman of the UDW's advisory committee. Stevenson said he cared for his mother for 13 years, and now has four clients who found him through a county registry of home health care workers. Reyes said the county is also trying to impose a new benefits package that includes a $1,000 deductible for the workers own medical care, which someone making as little as they do can't afford.

About 40 percent of UDW members care for members of their family.

"We provide care for people who desperately need it," Reyes said. "Everyone should be embracing this community of health care providers, not turning their backs on us."