Foley v. Consolidated City of Indianapolis

• Decision Date: 24 June 1981
• Docket Number: No. 2-378A97,2-378A97
• Citation: 421 N.E.2d 1160
• Parties: Timothy FOLEY, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. CONSOLIDATED CITY OF INDIANAPOLIS, et al., Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: Indiana Appellate Court

Page 1160

421 N.E.2d 1160

Timothy FOLEY, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. CONSOLIDATED CITY OF INDIANAPOLIS, et al., Defendants-Appellees.

No. 2-378A97.

Court of Appeals of Indiana, Fourth District.

June 24, 1981.

Stephen P. Zinkan, Zinkan, O'Hara & Campbell, Indianapolis, for plaintiffs-appellants.

Michael W. Owen, Ronald R. Snyder, Roberts, Ryder, Rogers & Neighbours, Indianapolis, for defendants-appellees.

MILLER, Judge.

This is an appeal from summary judgment granted in favor of the City of Indianapolis (City) in an action brought under the Declaratory Judgment Act, Ind.Code 34-4-10-1 et seq., by certain members of the Indianapolis Police Department (IPD) claiming entitlement to increases in pay under a city-initiated college incentive pay program (CIP) and charging the City with failure to appropriate sufficient funds to maintain the program. Although the City did not dispute the existence of CIP benefits they claimed the right to alter those benefits from year to year. The police officers alleged substantial detrimental reliance on representations that the original form of the agreement would continue for the length of employment of each officer enrolled in the program. After cross motions for summary judgment, the trial court found there were no such representations, oral or written, express or implied, and held the City was free to establish, revise or revoke the program with regard to future services, pursuant to their statutory right to fix and determine wages and benefits. We affirm.

FACTS

The facts are essentially undisputed and are derived solely from the pleadings and affidavits. In 1971, the City implemented a college incentive pay program increasing a police officer's base pay by two and one-half percent (21/2%) for each 30 hours of successfully completed college credits up to a maximum of ten percent (10%) of the officer's base pay. The program was publicized in recruiting pamphlets and bulletins circulated throughout the police department. Appended as exhibits to the officer's complaint and motion for summary judgment were 1) affidavits executed by each officer uniformly stating he or she "expected" CIP to continue indefinitely in its original form, and 2) police department bulletins and recruiting pamphlets containing the alleged representations on which the officers apparently based their expectation for indefinite continuation of CIP benefits.

The department bulletins recite "a supplemental salary increase of 21/2% awarded for successful completion of each 30 credit hours of college level courses up to a maximum of 10%." ¹ The recruitment pamphlets The current dispute centers on an action taken by the Police Special Service District Council approving the budget and appropriating funds for the 1977 fiscal year. ² Allocations for CIP were decreased to $200 for each 30 hours of college credit up to a maximum of $800, while allocations for the base salary of all police officers were increased by $600. Allocations were also increased for insurance contributions by the City for all members. If the CIP formula had remained unaltered it would have required budgeting an additional $65,000 for 1977. Under the 1977 compensation scheme, the police officers involved in this suit realized an average increase in salary of $317 per year, while two police officers realized a decrease in salary of $59.60 per year.

for each year CIP was effective contain the pay schedules for the current year according to rank or years of service for 1) salary for officers without a college degree and longevity pay, 2) salary for officers with a degree (indicating the maximum under CIP), and 3) pension benefits. The separate CIP schedule contains three vertical columns listing rank, salary (base) and incentive (maximum CIP) respectively, presenting the dollar figures in the last two columns. This schedule contains the following additional information: "add $600.00 clothing allowance plus longevity pay for number of years service to figure total yearly salary." The salary, longevity and pension schedules are similarly constructed. Therefore, as far as we can determine, it is uncontested the bulletins treat CIP in the same manner as base pay and longevity each schedule simply presenting an additional factor for computation of total salary for the given year. The police officers do not allege the existence of any other representations, but agree the court was presented with all representations on which the officers rely. The content of the budget ordinance encompassing CIP, submitted as an exhibit to the City's motion for summary judgment, is also not disputed.

In October 1976, after adoption of the 1977 ordinance, ³ approximately 173 officers, who were then receiving benefits under CIP, filed a complaint for continuation of the original CIP terms. As noted earlier, following cross motions for summary judgment the trial court issued findings of fact, as requested, concluding there was no evidence that representations were made that CIP would never be revised, modified or altered, nor restricting the statutory right to revise or eliminate CIP. Summary judgment was granted for the City.

ISSUE

The sole issue presented for review is whether the City had the right to yearly revise the CIP plan of compensation for the IPD.

DECISION AND DISCUSSION

We first note summary judgment may be granted only if there is no genuine issue of material fact and the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law. Ind. Rules of Procedure, Trial Rule 56(C). The officers claim the uncontradicted evidence before the court, which left no genuine material issue of fact, entitled them, not the City, to summary judgment as a matter of law. In their brief, they argue the existence of an irrevocable offer which the officers accepted and relied upon. They further contend the binding terms of the offer included the continuation of CIP at the initial 10% maximum rate, and deny the City's statutory power to alter this rate in later years.

Utilizing various elementary principles of contract law to support their contention that "the promise of college incentive pay became irrevocable when the (police) relied upon it to their detriment," the police attempt to demonstrate detrimental reliance by affidavits attesting both to the officers' continuation or acceptance of employment with the IPD as opposed to accepting employment with other law enforcement agencies and to their enrollment in college programs subjecting themselves to the attendant financial and personal strains. After arguing the irrevocable nature of the offer, they then focus on the terms of the contract and admit: "The one term that is not expressly stated is the length of time that the (police) would receive their college incentive pay" and attempt to supply the missing term by reference to the police officers' affidavits which uniformly state: "The affiant expected that the method of computing college incentive pay as a percentage of his base salary, would not change during the time of (his or her) employment with the Indianapolis Police Department." In their brief, they conclude: "The fact that the (City) never stated that the college incentive pay would only be paid for a given period of years gave rise to the reasonable inference that it would be continuously paid during each employee's length of service...." These expectations were apparently based solely on representations, or lack thereof, regarding the terms of CIP as derived from the recruiting pamphlets and departmental bulletins published and circulated by the IPD.

As mentioned, earlier, the pamphlets presented CIP in the same manner as base salary, longevity pay and pension benefits, i. e. by listing the dollar amounts for which an officer might be eligible during the year of the pamphlets' publication. Similar to the longevity and rank factors, CIP was presented as a possible component of an officer's yearly salary. It therefore appears the same arguments for indefinite continuation of the 1976 rate of CIP could also be made for indefinite continuation of the rate of base salary and longevity benefits as presented in the same pamphlet. Significantly, the officers do not distinguish these factors but appear to acknowledge the City's power to change the rate of compensation for these latter elements, while incongruously asserting their right to CIP at the 1971-1976 rate. We therefore find it difficult to accept the officers' contention that they reasonably expected CIP to continue for each officer's full length of service.

We do agree that the police are employees rather than officers and that their relationship with the City is purely contractual. State ex rel. Palm v. City of Brazil, (1947) 225 Ind. 308, 73 N.E.2d 485, 74 N.E.2d 917; State ex rel. Crooke v. Lugar, (1976) 171 Ind.App. 60, 354 N.E.2d 755. Since a municipal corporation is a creature of the state, however, every party dealing with a municipality is bound to take notice of the limitations on its powers and the laws governing the municipality in making contracts. Thus, in City of Frankfort v. Logan, (1976) 168 Ind.App. 81, 341 N.E.2d 510, this Court held void a contract to hire a 42 year old individual as a regular policeman, since a statute prohibited appointment of regular police over 35 years of age. Accord, Hamer v. City of Huntington, (1939) 215 Ind. 594, 21 N.E.2d 407 (company was bound by statutory limitation on city's power to make a valid contract without prior appropriation). Furthermore, the terms and conditions of the contract include all relevant statutory provisions as if such provisions were specifically set out in the contract. Marter v. City of Vincennes, (1948) 118 Ind.App. 586, 82 N.E.2d 410. Thus, in Kirmse v. City of Gary, (1944) 114 Ind.App. 558, 51 N.E.2d 883, the Court held that a contract of employment with a police officer included the statute providing for minimum compensation. We must therefore proceed to examine the...