Whitehorse city officials are asking the Yukon Supreme Court to quash a recent labour ruling that gives the city's firefighters a salary raise, arguing that the decision would cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars in extra costs.

Earlier this year, an arbitrator gave Whitehorse's 24 firefighters an average retroactive raise of about five per cent for each of the past three years.

Although the fire department makes up less than 10 per cent of the municipal workforce, the arbitration ruling could mean wage increases for many more of the city's workers, manager Dennis Shewfelt said.

Under the city's pay equity system, all employees in the same pay class as the firefighters must get the same raise, Shewfelt said.

"There are comparable positions in other parts of the organization that would require the same level of remuneration as members of the fire department," he told CBC News.

"Citywide, because we're obligated to follow 'equal pay for work of equal value,' as laid out in the human rights legislation, it would be in the order of $600,000 more per year, just in this payout this year."

Shewfelt said those extra costs would require a tax increase of about 2½ per cent to cover.

Pay equity system considered: union

The city argues decision was based on wages that are paid to firefighters in southern Canada, but the Yukon's pay equity legislation forbids that.

The International Association of Firefighters says the Whitehorse firefighters' salaries have been 10 to 15 per cent lower than average salaries in British Columbia and Alberta.

But Lorne West, the association's western vice-president, said the arbitrator's ruling did take the city's pay equity system into consideration.

"The city presented all of the exact same evidence to the arbitrator. He considered it and weighted it, and said very clearly that that's one factor in the decision of making wages but it's not the sole and determining factor," West said Thursday.

Shewfelt said the city's application was filed to the court on Wednesday, and he's not sure when the case will be heard. However, he said he believes the Yukon Supreme Court will overturn the arbitrator's ruling.

"I believe it's fairly clear in our mind," he said. "Otherwise we wouldn't have taken this step to ask for a judicial review."

But West questioned the fairness of the city's claim that other employees in the same pay class as the firefighters must get similar raises.

"I'm not too sure how you determine who sets the benchmark when using a pay equity program in the minds of the city," he said.

"It seems to me that they're suggesting it's whoever they can agree to the lowest wage first."

West said this marks the fourth time the city of Whitehorse has forced its firefighters into arbitration, adding that the firefighters themselves have to pay for arbitration costs and legal fees because the association cannot afford to help out.

It's leading some to wonder if the city is just trying to defeat them by outspending them, West said.