Court lifts fee ban on police cars
Monthly hike not irreparable
By Dan Klepal • [email protected] • January 21, 2009

The Kentucky Court of Appeals has lifted a temporary injunction that prevented Louisville Metro Government from charging police officers more to take their patrol cars home.

Louisville Metro Police Chief Robert White said he will talk with Mayor Jerry Abramson before deciding whether to immediately institute the higher fees or wait until the issue plays out in front of the Kentucky Labor Cabinet, which has a hearing scheduled Feb. 10-11.

"It was always our position that the injunction wasn't warranted," White said.

White and Abramson announced the fee increase in December as part of Abramson's plan to offset a projected $20 million budget shortfall for the current fiscal year.

Officers currently pay $30 a month for take-home cars and $60 if they use them on a second job. The administration wants to raise those fees to $100 and $160 a month, respectively –– a move that would increase revenue to the city by about $110,000 per month.

But Jefferson Circuit Judge Mitch Perry issued the temporary injunction Dec. 24, saying the officers would be "irreparably harmed" if the city raised the fees before state labor officials decide the issue.

Yesterday, a three-judge panel of the appellate court said officers would not be irreparably harmed by the higher fees because:

The city can refund the money through back pay if the fees are found to be an unfair labor practice.

The injunction isn't necessary to preserve officers' collective-bargaining rights because the Fraternal Order of Police didn't challenge the lower fees when Abramson and White instituted them last year as part of a plan to offset a $13 million shortfall in the 2007-08 budget.

The take-home car program is a privilege, not a right, because it is not mentioned in the FOP contract.

"Given all these factors … we find no basis for a finding of irreparable injury," the ruling says. "It is clear to us … that the real issue is money: whether the officers in the program should be required to pay the increase while the collective bargaining complaint is pending."

The court rulings to date looked narrowly at the issue of whether an injunction was warranted based on irreparable harm.

The Labor Cabinet will determine if the city is entitled to raise the fees without first negotiating with the union.

FOP President John McGuire said he will meet with attorneys for a decision on how to proceed. The union hopes the city will wait for a Labor Cabinet ruling before instituting the fees, he said.

The complaint filed with the state labor officials "will address the true issue, which is: Can the city arbitrarily and unilaterally make a change to the employees' wages, hours and working conditions without bargaining," McGuire said. "According to Louisville ordinances, Kentucky state law and our contract, they cannot."

Assistant Jefferson County Attorney Bill O'Brien said it will likely take labor officials 30 to 60 days after the hearing to issue a ruling, which can be appealed to circuit court and higher courts.

O'Brien said the ruling is important so the city can start collecting the extra fees; and for the precedent it will set.

"This ruling addresses what you need to get an injunction," he said.

http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20090121/NEWS01/901210447