Louisville Metro government cannot charge police officers for take-home patrol cars unless the fees are negotiated under the police union contract, a state agency ruled Tuesday.
The decision by the Labor Cabinet could cost the city about $1.4 million this fiscal year and will be appealed in court, said a spokeswoman for Mayor Jerry Abramson.
John McGuire, president of the local Fraternal Order of Police lodge, said the decision vindicated the union's position "that this was a matter of law that they couldn't do this to us without talking to us. And the time to do that was during contract negotiations."
The ruling, by Labor Secretary J.R. Gray, came in response to an unfair labor practices complaint filed by the FOP in March 2008 after the fees were imposed.
Gray's decision upheld a May recommendation from a hearing officer, who found that the Abramson administration violated collective-bargaining laws when it imposed the fees without union approval.
The fees were initiated as part of the administration's plan to deal with a $13 million budget deficit in fiscal 2008. They were raised when the city faced a $20 million revenue shortfall during the last fiscal year.
The police department has about 1,300 vehicles, with 1,094 of them used as take-home cars.
Under the program, officers pay $100 a month to take home their patrol cars, which they are then free to use for personal business. They do not have to pay for insurance, maintenance or fuel.
Officers pay $160 a month if the cars are used as transport to a second job.
Kerri Richardson, an Abramson spokeswoman, said the city has collected more than $890,000 since the fees were imposed in March 2008.
She said the city will immediately suspend collecting the fees and appeal Gray's ruling to Jefferson Circuit Court.
"The lost revenue does not pose an immediate budget challenge, but we will continue to review the financial impact," she said.
Under the ruling, repayment of money already collected will be "a subject of negotiation" between the city and the FOP.
That disappointed McGuire, whose union argued in its response to the hearing officer's recommendation that the officers should be repaid.
In its response, the Jefferson County Attorney's Office contended that the the FOP's complaint should be dismissed because the take-home car program is a "privilege rather than a right that must be negotiated."
Louisville Police Chief Robert White said there is no plan to stop the program. He added that it's unclear how much it costs the city each year.
"We haven't done delineation between using the car for patrol versus all other expenses" for personal use by the officers, White said.
The hearing officer made three recommendations in May, all of which were adopted:
The city must immediately cease collecting the fees.
The police department must permit employees who opted out of the take-home car program to resume participation in it.
Metro government must immediately cease from refusing to bargain collectively in good faith with the FOP.
About 50 officers opted out of the program instead of paying the fees. They were told that, once out, they could not be reinstated in the program.