COLUMBUS CONSOL. GOVERNMENT v. Schmidt, S98A0918.
| Decision Date | 14 September 1998 |
| Docket Number | No. S98A0918.,S98A0918. |
| Citation | 269 Ga. 723,507 S.E.2d 435 |
| Parties | COLUMBUS, GEORGIA CONSOLIDATED GOVERNMENT v. SCHMIDT et al. |
| Court | Georgia Supreme Court |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Eugene H. Polleys, Jr., City Atty., Columbus, G. Conley Ingram, Alston & Bird, LLP, Atlanta, for Columbus, Georgia Consolidated Government.
William J. Mason, Columbus, for Victor F. Schmidt et al.
The issue in this appeal is whether a Columbus ordinance that provides for educational incentive pay applies to employees who acquired their educational degrees prior to the ordinance's effective date. The trial court adopted a "common sense interpretation" of the ordinance and held that its effective date applied solely to the employees' eligibility for the incentive pay and not to the date that they attained their educational degrees. Applying the ordinary rules of statutory construction, we hold that the plain language of the ordinance applies only to existing employees who attain a baccalaureate's or master's degree after July 1, 1996, the ordinance's effective date. Therefore, we reverse.
Ordinance Number 96-79 provides for educational incentive pay for new and existing employees. Section two of the ordinance states:
Effective July 1, 1996, existing employees in the EMS Department, Fire Department, Marshal's Department, Muscogee County Prison, Police Department and Sheriff's Department shall progress to the next Pay Grade, same step, upon the attainment of a baccalaureate degree or a master's degree effective the next pay period following the verification of any such degree.
Public safety employees in Columbus brought this petition for mandamus seeking to apply the incentive pay to educational degrees attained prior to the ordinance's effective date. The trial court ordered the city to award pay increases to all public safety employees who attained degrees prior to July 1, 1996, except any person who had already received additional compensation for attaining a baccalaureate degree under a prior ordinance or resolution.
In construing statutes, courts should follow the plain meaning of the statutory language.1 The Columbus ordinance states that effective July 1, 1996, existing employees shall progress to the next pay grade "upon the attainment" of a degree. The preposition "upon" means "on the occasion of: at the time of."2 The verb "attain" means to "gain, achieve, accomplish" or "to come into possession."3 Based on these definitions, we interpret the critical term "upon the attainment" to mean on the occasion of the employee gaining a degree.
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...no portion of the ordinances had any legal import before July 1. See OCGA § 36-36-2 (a). See also Columbus, Georgia Consolidated Government v. Schmidt , 269 Ga. 723, 724, 507 S.E.2d 435 (1998) (looking at the effective date of the ordinance to determine when its provisions took effect). Thu......
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...The courts of Georgia have also applied the rules of statutory construction to municipal ordinances, Columbus Ga. Consolidated Govt. v. Schmidt , 269 Ga. 723, 723–724, 507 S.E.2d 435 (1998), as well as agency standards and administrative regulations. Rice v. Six Flags Over Ga. LLC , 257 Ga.......
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