City
of
And
Mount
Interest
Arbitration
Arbitrator: Gary L. Axon
Date
Issued:
Arbitrator:
Axon; Gary L.
Case #: 10183-I-92-00218
Employer:
City of
Date Issued: 11/06/1993
IN THE MATER OF )
)
INTEREST ARBITRATION ) PERC
NO. 10183-1-92-218
)
BETWEEN ) NEUTRAL ARBITRATOR'S
)
MOUNT
SERVICES
GUILD, ) AWARD
Guild, ) 1993
WAGE REOPENER
)
and )
)
CITY OF
)
City. )
HEARING SITE: City Hall
HEARING DATES: July 8, 9, 12, 1993
POST-HEARING BRIEFS DUE: Postmarked
RECORD CLOSED ON RECEIPT OF BRIEFS:
REPRESENTING THE GUILD: James M. Cline
Hoag, Vick, Tarantino & Garrettson
REPRESENTING THE CITY: Bruce L. Schroeder
Heller,
Ehrman, White & McAuliffe
6100
701
ARBITRATION PANEL: Mike Marker
Guild
Appointed Member
Linford Smith
City
Appointed Member
Gary
L. Axon
Neutral
Arbitrator
1465
Pinecrest Terrace
(503)
488-1573
Table
of Contents
Page
I. Introduction 2
II. Background 7
III. Position
of the Guild 9
IV. Position
of the City 23
V. Discussion
and Findings 41
A. Guild Proposal to Change the Wage Grid 44
B. Wages 46
Constitutional
and Statutory Authority
of
the Employer 49
Stipulations
of the Parties 49
Comparability 49
Cost
of Living 57
Changes 59
Other
Factors 59
Award 60
I. INTRODUCTION
This
case is an interest arbitration conducted pursuant
to Chapter 41.56 RCW. The parties to this dispute are the City of
and the
("Guild"). In 1990 the parties negotiated their first
Collective
Bargaining Agreement under
covered
the three-year period from
called for a salary reopener
for the third year of the contract.
The
parties were unable
to resolve the
sole issue of the
appropriate wage rate for 1993 through
negotiation and mediation.
The matter was certified for interest
arbitration pursuant td RCW
41.56.450, et seq.
The
City of
and timber economy.
between
corridor.
The 1993 population of the City is approximately 20,450.
The City actively promotes a rural and
small-town atmosphere as
part of its mission statement. City Ex. 65.
66,100 in 1983 to 88,500 in 1993. The City of
also grown from a population of 17,647 in
1990 to 20,450 in 1993.
City Ex. 19.
The largest employers within the City limits are the
various public agencies, including
and
a public hospital.
There are no
major industrial or
manufacturing employers located in
opened in the neighboring city to the north,
retail businesses relocated out of
at
approved several new residential
subdivisions to accommodate the
increasing population of
since the mid-1980s.
The
Mount Vernon Police Department is comprised of
approximately 36 full-time positions
including a Chief, Assistant
Chief, a Captain and a Records Manager who
are in non-represented
management positions. The bargaining unit is composed of 27
officers.
Twenty-one are patrol officers and 6 are sergeants. The
average length of service in the bargaining
unit is almost 10
years.
The Mount Vernon Police Department provides a full range of
law enforcement services for the citizens of
the City. The bulk of
the Police Department is funded by the
City's general fund.
The
hearing in this case took three days for the parties
to present their evidence and
testimony. The majority of the
hearing
time was consumed on
the issue of
the appropriate
jurisdictions with which to compare
establishing the 1993 wage schedule. The hearing was recorded by
a court reporter and a transcript consisting
of 689 pages was made
available to the parties and the arbitration
panel for the purpose
of preparing the post-hearing briefs and
award. Testimony of the
witnesses was taken under oath. At the hearing the parties were
given the full opportunity to present
written evidence, oral
testimony and argument. The parties provided the Arbitrator with
substantial written documentation in support
of their respective
positions.
Comprehensive and lengthy post-hearing briefs were
submitted to the Arbitrator with
accompanying interest arbitration
awards issued in the state of
The
approach of this Arbitrator in writing the award will
be to summarize the major and most
persuasive evidence and argument
presented by the parties. After the introduction of the issue and
positions of the parties, I will state the
principal findings and
rationale which caused the Arbitrator to
make the award on the wage
issue.
The
parties filed their post-hearing written briefs in a
timely manner and the record was closed as
of
On
for the purpose of the admission of the
newly signed
Police Department agreement. On
brief in opposition to the
After evaluating the arguments submitted by
counsel regarding the
Motion to Reopen the Record, the Arbitrator
denied the Motion to
Reopen in an order dated
Because
of the extensive record made in this case the
parties agreed to an extension of the
statutory requirement that a
decision be issued within thirty days of the
close of the record.
On
with the party appointed members of the
arbitration panel to
discuss the evidence and argument contained
in the record of this
case.
The comments and observations of the party appointed panel
members were of great assistant to the
neutral Arbitrator in making
his
findings of fact
and award on the issue presented for
arbitration. The written decision is solely the work of
the
neutral Arbitrator.
This
Arbitrator carefully reviewed and evaluated all of
the evidence and argument submitted pursuant
to the criteria
established by RCW 41.56.460. Since the record in this case is so
comprehensive it would be impractical for
the Arbitrator in this
discussion and award to restate and refer to
each and every piece
of evidence or testimony presented. However, when formulating the
1993 wage award the Arbitrator did give
careful consideration to
all of the evidence and argument submitted.
The
single issue submitted to interest arbitration in
this case is the 1993 wage issue under the reopener provision of
the 1991-93 Collective Bargaining Agreement.
The
statutory factors to be considered by the Arbitrator
may be summarized as follows:
(a) The
constitutional and statutory
authority
of the employer;
(b) Stipulations of the parties;
(c) (i) For
employees listed in RCW
41.56.030(7)(a)
and 41.56.495, comparison of
the
wages, hours, and conditions of employment
of
personnel involved in the proceedings with
the
wages, hours, and conditions of employment
of
like personnel of like employers of similar
size
on the West Coast of the United States
*
* *
(d) The average consumer prices for goods
and
services, commonly
known as the
cost of
living;
(e) Changes
in any of
the foregoing of
circumstances during
the pendency of the
proceeding;
(f) Such other factors, not confined to the
foregoing,
which are normally or traditionally
taken
into consideration in the determination
of
wages, hours, and conditions of employment.
II. BACKGROUND
This
case comes to arbitration pursuant to a reopener
clause in the 1991-93 Collective Bargaining
Agreement. The single
issue subject to the reopener
involves the wage level for 1993.
The present salary schedule is structured on
an eight step system.
It takes nine years to reach the top step of
the current salary
schedule.
The nine year salary grid has been in place for several
years.
Pursuant to the 1992 contract, a beginning patrolman starts
at $2,278 per month and rises to a top step
after nine years of
$2,838 per month. A Mount Vernon police officer's wage is
$2,742
after five years with the Police Department.
The
sergeants are also included in this bargaining unit.
A sergeant with zero to two years experience
earns $2,949 per month
which increases to $3,049 per month after
two years. The sergeant
reaches the top step of the salary scale
after four years. The top
step pay for a sergeant is $3,149 per month.
The
City pays the entire premium for medical care for
bargaining unit members and their dependents
pursuant to the terms
of the contract. The members of this bargaining unit work a
substantial amount of overtime. In addition, shift differential is
paid for work between 5:00 p.m. and 9:00
a.m. Premium pay is also
provided for special assignments made to the
members of this
bargaining unit.
The
1991 Agreement yielded a 7% increase.
The second
year of the contract generated a 3% increase
under a CPI formula
based on 100% of the all-cities CPI-U index,
with a minimum of 3%
and a maximum of 7% computed on a reading of
the November 1990 to
November 1991 index.
The
Union proposed for 1993 to alter the wage grid by
reducing the time it takes to reach the top
step from nine years to
five years.
The Union has proposed a wage increase that would
average 17%.
The City proposed to retain the existing salary grid
with a 3% across the board increase.
The
driving force behind the positions of the parties on
the wage issue was comparability. Each party
submitted substantial
evidence and argument to support its
position on the appropriate
comparators for the purpose of establishing
wages for Mount Vernon
police officers. The Arbitrator was also supplied with several
interest arbitration decisions involving
other Washington cities.
The arbitration of this case was conducted
approximately six and
one-half months into the 1993 contract
year. By the time this
award is issued, approximately two months
will remain on the 1993
contract.
The Arbitrator has evaluated this case in the context of
a third year reopener
and the implications of this award for future
negotiations between the parties.
III. POSITION
OF THE GUILD
The
Union proposed a salary schedule for 1993 wages as
follows:
PATROL
PAY STEP MONTHLY WAGE
0-1 years $2606
1-2 years $2737
2-3 years $2867
3-4 years $2997
4-5 years $3128
5+ years $3258
SERGEANTS'
PAY STEP
0-2 years $3449.89
2-4 years $3567.31
4+ years $3684.69
The
Guild's position on 1993 wages was based almost
exclusively on its list of comparators. According to the Guild,
its proposed list is more consistent with
both statutory and other
traditional factors relied upon in the
selection of comparator
jurisdictions in interest arbitrations than
the list offered by the
City.
The Guild's "Weighted Multi-Factor Approach" resulted in a
list of eight Washington jurisdictions which
the Union believed
represented a fair and equitable basis on
which to establish Mount
Vernon
police wages. The
Guild proposed eight
Washington
jurisdictions as its list of
comparables. They are as follows:
CITY POPULATION NUMBER OF OFFICERS
Bremerton 36,380 56
Longview 32,650 46
Puyallup 26,140 43
Lacey 22,660 31
Mount Vernon 20,450 29
Mountlake Terrace 19,880 29
Des Moines 19,460 27
Port Angeles 18,270 27
Aberdeen 16,665 36
Average without
Mount
Vernon 24,013 35
The Union submits the factors which relate
to size, function,
wealth and location of the comparator
jurisdictions are most likely
to be understood by the parties to produce a
list of "like"
jurisdictions.
The
Guild avers that its method of analysis produced a
balanced and reasonable set of
comparators. The Union's list was
composed of cities located in western
Washington and excluded
cities without "uniform personnel"
or those with less that 15,000
population.
The variance range was established to multiply or
divide by a factor of 2. The Guild's demographic factors used as
a basis for selecting comparables were as
follows:
1) Population
2) Assessed
Valuation
3) Assessed
Valuation per capita
4) Retail
Sales
5) Retail
Sales per capita
6) Number
of Officers
7) Number
of Crimes
The factors given the most weight in the
analysis were population
and assessed valuation.
The
Guild claimed that the factors it relied on for
selecting comparators offer the best
approach to determine "like
employers
of similar size."
The argument of
the Guild is
summarized in the sections which follow.
1. Population. Population is the
best
measure of "similar size." Further, increases
in population often increase the complexity
and workload of the law enforcement
officers'
job.
Population must be viewed in tandem with
several other factors. Cities in the Guild's
list of comparables range from 16,665
persons
in Aberdeen to 36,380 persons in Bremerton.
The average population of the eight cities
without Mount Vernon is 24,013. The Guild's
comparators
are justified based
upon the
population
range of the
jurisdictions
resulting from the Guild's study.
2. Assessed
Valuation. Assessed valuation is
a traditional factor utilized by arbitrators
in the process of selecting comparators. The
reasoning for using assessed valuation is
that
police officers not only protect people,
they
also protect property. Assessed valuation
when viewed in conjunction with retail sales
is probably far and away the best measure of
the City's tax base and its ability to pay.
An equitable wage award will take into
account
the similarity of Mount Vernon to cities of
similar ability to pay. Assessed valuation
serves as a rough measure of the wealth of a
community.
3. Assessed
Valuation Per Capita. Assessed
valuation per capita is simply a more fine-
tuned method of selecting comparators. The
logic
of utilizing assessed valuation per
capita is that one gets a better measure of
a
city's ability to pay than by looking at
assessed valuation alone. Assessed valuation
per capita also provides a better snapshot
of
the local effort than does assessed
valuation
standing by itself.
4. Retail Sales.
In Washington, a
significant share of local income to cities
is