Jamestown city officials will appeal the arbitration ruling to increase the pay for Jamestown Police Department union employees to the highest court in the state.

On Wednesday, Elliot Raimondo, city corporation counsel, told The Post-Journal city officials will appeal the New York State Supreme Court Fourth Judicial Department Appellate Division’s decision, which was announced last month, to uphold the arbitration ruling awarding a 2% pay increase in 2016 and 2017 to Kendall Club Police Benevolent Association members.

“As it currently stands, the answer is ‘Yes,'” he said about city officials appealing the decision to the New York State Court of Appeals in Albany.

Raimondo said because the Appellate Division decision was unanimous, the city doesn’t have an automatic right to have the case heard by the state Court of Appeals.

“(The state Court of Appeals) would have to accept the appeal,” he said.

Raimondo said city officials will file the necessary paperwork within the month to the state Court of Appeals. He said, normally, it would take the court two to three months to decided if they will hear the case.

However, he said because of the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s unknown how long it will take the court to decided if they will hear the case.

Raimondo said the appeal won’t cost the city any more money because their lawyers — Bond, Schoeneck and King — haven’t allocated all of the $25,000 the Jamestown City Council approved to pay for the appeal to the Appellate Division. He also said the council won’t have to approve an additional resolution to appeal the case to the state Court of Appeals because the first resolution authorized the motion.

“In my legal mind it did. (The resolution) wasn’t specific to which court of appeals,” he said. “For the appeal of the police arbitration matter, we have two levels of appeal courts in the state of New York.”

In April 2019, the council approved appealing the decision following the ruling by state Supreme Court in Mayville in March 2019 upholding the arbitration panel’s decision. In November 2018, a three-member arbitration panel released its split decision, 2-1, on the issue of a 2% pay increase, with independent arbitrator Howard Foster and John Crotty, police union representative, siding with the police and Todd Thomas, former city clerk and administrative services director who represented the city, provided the dissenting opinion. If the city would have to pay the 2% increase, it’s estimated to cost $840,000 a year, which would total $1,680,000 for both 2016 and 2017.